New York City residents want to be armed. New data shows a sharp uptick in the number of concealed carry applications in the Big Apple. However, even after the Supreme Court ruling on Bruen, the city has found ways to prevent residents from exercising their Second Amendment rights.

This development comes amid fears about heightened crime rates in the city and the outbreak of pro-Hamas demonstrations on university campuses.

The new police data reviewed by The News shows the NYPD received 13,369 gun permit applications in 2023. That marked a significant jump from 2022, when the department received 7,407 applications, and 2021, when it took in 4,665, according to the data.

From Jan. 1 through March 3, the most recent span for which data is available, the department received 3,358 applications, making the total number of permit claims submitted since Jan. 1, 2023 at least 16,727. If the application clip through March 3 continues, the department will see roughly the same spiked number of permit claims in 2024 as it did in 2023.

Interestingly enough, despite the city’s apparent aversion to the right to keep and bear arms, the spike in applications has brought in a considerable amount of revenue.

Amid the mounting applications, data provided by Adams’ office shows the NYPD is on track to rake in $6.3 million in gun permit application fees this fiscal year, which started July 1, 2023, and runs through this June 30. Regardless of whether it approves or rejects an application, the NYPD requires applicants to pay processing fees that cost as much as $340 per permit.

Of the $6.3 million haul, $1.4 million is labeled in budget documents as “additional” cash raised as part of a so-called Program to Eliminate the Gap (PEG) implemented by Adams in November to cut municipal spending and boost revenue streams amid fiscal uncertainties fueled by costs associated with the city’s migrant crisis.

David, a firearm consultant who helped New Yorkers navigate the application process, told reporters that the “most popular reason” for the increase is that people “just don’t feel as safe as they used to, with the protests, riots, crime.”

Indeed, while the crime rate in the city has started to decline, it is still far higher than it was in 2019, before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The data shows that as of last Sunday, the number of major felonies in the city so far this year are up 39.3% when compared to the same period in 2019. Looking at the same comparative point in time, the number of shooting victims are up 16.7% and the number of shooting incidents are up 11.1%.

Looking at the more recent past, major felonies are down in the city by 0.9% when compared to 2022 and down 3.1% when compared to last year. Shooting victims and shooting incidents are down even more, having respectively dropped by 39.1% and 39.5% when compared to 2022, the data shows.

The surge in concealed carry applications might seem encouraging at first glance, but given New York’s efforts to subvert the impact of the Bruen decision, it is not likely that many of these individuals will be granted a permit. Since the ruling, New York City has issued fewer permits and has slow-walked the application process.

In 2021, the NYPD — which vets firearm permits — received 4,663 applications and approved 2,591 of them, about 56%, all under the stricter “proper cause” standard the Supreme Court struck down last year. That standard required gun owners in New York to show “proper cause” in order to receive a permit to carry a weapon, but the court said licenses should be granted by default unless there was a specific reason to deny an applicant.

In 2022, the NYPD saw an increased number of new applications — 7,260 — but approved just 1,550, or 21%, even though applications filed in the second half of that year no longer had to meet the “proper cause” standard where applicants had to make an affirmative case for why they needed a license.

In the six months after the high court’s ruling in New York State Rifle vs. Bruen, from June 24, 2022 to Dec. 31, 2022, the NYPD saw a surge in new gun permit applications, from just over 2,000 in the same period a year earlier to nearly 5,000. So far, the department has approved 503 of those, or just above 10%, despite its guidelines and state law requiring applications to be decided upon within six months.

These numbers figure into the case of Dexter Taylor, a Brooklyn man who was recently convicted for building his own firearms without possessing a permit. His lawyer pointed to data showing that Taylor would likely have not been approved for a license had he applied.

Nevertheless, all hope is not lost for New York City residents who wish to be armed. Because of the Bruen decision, many anti-gunner laws have been successfully challenged in court, which will eventually happen with many of the city’s restrictions on firearms.

Unfortunately, many New Yorkers will have to wait before they are able to obtain the means by which they can defend themselves from the violent criminals that prosecutors like Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg insist on freeing after being arrested.