Thread by @DrRJKavanagh

So missing the point.

In NYC, people who live in dangerous neighborhoods - primarily Black and Brown - often feel the need to carry a gun.

And they are the people who get prosecuted - not privileged people.

That's why public defenders supported this challenge to NY's gun laws.

https://twitter.com/AymanMSNBC/status/1457545498169073667

People really don't understand how gun laws are enforced in New York.

They criminalize young Black and Brown people.

I don't think I have ever represented a White person charged with possession of a gun.

Not because they don't carry them, but because police are not smashing down their apartment doors to find them and they're not conducting illegal stops and searches.

Also because White people can get licenses to carry guns legally. Black people, often because they have had minor contacts with the criminal legal system, can't.

And the reality is a White person living in a nice neighborhood probably doesn't feel the need to carry a gun.

The people I represent who carry guns are usually teenagers and they have rarely ever used the guns tehy are charged with possessing. They are not in gangs. They live in NYCHA buildings and they carry the guns to protect themselves and their families.

That's the truth. And I am the first person to think gun control should be way stricter in this country. But I know the way to achieve that is not to criminalize young Black and Brown kids in NYC.

Do something that would change the gun culture that allows those White people in the South to carry semi-automatic weapons into Walmart or to storm State legislatures with guns.

Do something to change the socioeconomic conditions of Black and Brown people in NYC so teenagers here don't feel the need to carry guns for protection.

Educate people about gun violence. Something like 61% of gun deaths in this country are due to suicide. Cops killing Black and Brown people is gun violence. Teenagers possessing guns they don't use for protection is part of a larger problem, not *the problem.*

The penalty for possession of a gun (simple possession) for someone with no criminal record is 2 to 7 years in prison. Once you have two convictions for gun possession (again simple possession) or other felonies, you could potentially face a life sentence for a third gun charge.

This is not about being pro-guns. It is about being anti-criminalization as a way to resolve a complex issue.

So many criminal laws lead to mass incarceration - in NYC gun laws are one of the most obvious.