Guns for Me, But Not for Thee?

According to this NY Post article, it looks like NYC is "tightening" the already python-like permitting system, and (Horrors!) reviewing the permits of celebrities and officials.

ARMED AND FAMOUS

A bevy of the Big Apple's biggest stars are packing heat, according to the latest data from the NYPD's list of gun-license holders.

Among the more than 3,600 privileged New Yorkers allowed to hit the street with a loaded weapon are tough-guy actors Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel, shock-jocks Howard Stern and Don Imus, developer Donald Trump, record honcho Tommy Mottola and Channel 5 TV anchor John Roland.

Also on the list are ex-Seagrams CEO Edgar M. Bronfman, defense lawyer Barry Slotnick, state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, Daily News co-publisher Fred Drasner, Manhattan Judge Leslie Crocker Snyder, Arkansas Lt. Gov. Winthrop P. Rockefeller (whose famous family is based in the city) and Assistant state Attorney General Steven Pagones, who was smeared in the Tawana Brawley fiasco 15 years ago.

Ex-top cop Howard Safir and publishing czar and author Michael Korda also have gun licenses, but they're not allowed to strap on their weapons.

I would infer that they have not applied for carry permits then. Not that they were denied same.

Their "premise" permit allows them to keep a gun in their homes and demands that when they travel with their weapons, the guns must be unloaded and locked in a safety box, with the ammunition kept separate.

Councilman James Davis, slain two weeks ago by political rival Othniel Askew, who bought his gun in North Carolina, was the only member of the City Council to have a gun license, according to the NYPD data.

I bet that's going to change shortly!

Bruno is the only state pol to have one. But plenty of judges have them.

More than a dozen jurists, including prominent Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Richard Lowe and Brooklyn Judges Yvonne Lewis and Lila Gold, are allowed to tuck a loaded gun into their belts or bags, according to the NYPD permit list.

Still, some celebs have had their licenses yanked as the NYPD conducts a massive review of the 39,000 gun permits of all kinds following a rule-bending scandal six months ago that marred the License Division. The cops are checking to see if owners have kept their licenses up to date or if an arrest or other incident now disqualifies them.

As The Post first reported, ex-NYPD license head Bernard Petrofsky was accused by police brass of rubber-stamping permits for Aerosmith's Steven Tyler and Joe Perry in exchange for concert tickets and backstage passes.

The result has been a crackdown on all types of licenses, including the "carry" permits held by many ex-cops and other law-enforcement officers and the "special" permits for security guards and others who need a gun for their work.

A number of notables are among those who have had their licenses yanked or were denied a renewed license, which comes up for review every three years.

William F. Buckley, Chazz Palminteri, Paul Sorvino, Joan Rivers and Steven Seagal all were turned down when they applied to have their permits renewed by the NYPD since 2002.

The NYPD won't say why they denied Seagal a renewal, but he got cops' attention during the Peter Gotti trial when he bragged about packing heat in the city, even though he had only a premise license - not a carry permit.

Police wouldn't say why Rivers was denied, other than there was an "incident" on her record. In December, the comedienne got into a spat and allegedly assaulted a rental-car clerk, although she was never formally charged.

The NYPD review of all gun permits has resulted in cops yanking the licenses of 6,069 gun owners in the first six months of the year, a big increase over the 4,666 they pulled in all of 2002.

The 3,600 carry licenses are down from 4,500 at the end of 2001, according to the NYPD.

"We're canceling boxes and boxes of gun licenses," said Capt. Roy T. Richter, commanding officer of the department's License Division. "We've found a number of deficiencies in the folders."

Meanwhile, it's getting tougher to get a new license.

Cops have issued 1,282 new licenses through June 30 this year, down from 1,562 they approved during the same six-month period last year, and the rate of approval has dropped to 70 percent this year from 75 percent in 2002.

Don't you feel safer already? Knowing that Joan Rivers doesn't have a gun will help me sleep better at night. </sarcasm>

(UPDATE) Kim du Toit comments: "The power to 'license' means the power to deny."

Amen.

And if it requires a permit IT'S NOT A RIGHT!