The 120th Precinct just staged a victory photo with a battered Phoenix Arms .22 wrapped in purple tape and a magazine of rimfire ammo that wouldn’t reliably drop a raccoon. Officers Gautreaux and Maratea answered a “man with a gun” call, found someone carrying the cheapest semi-auto pistol that was being sold fifty years ago, and treated it like they’d just taken down a terror cell.
In Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s New York, this is what passes for heroism: two cops celebrating the seizure of a gun that’s less dangerous than the average kitchen knife while real predators walk free.
While responding to a 911 call of a man with a firearm,officers Gautreaux & Maratea recovered this illegal loaded firearm. https://t.co/cv4RedqkOQ
— NYPD 120th Precinct (@NYPD120Pct) October 14, 2026
Mamdani has never hidden his contempt for the idea that ordinary New Yorkers should be allowed to avail themselves of their Second Amendment rights. As an assemblyman, this is what passed for his deep thoughts on the topic . . .
We need to ban all guns.
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) May 24, 2022
He has pushed red flag confiscation expansion, social-media fishing expeditions for permit applicants, and nationwide bans on the very rifles his own police department carry. He wants to ensure that the little people are defenseless.
Meanwhile he travels under a round-the-clock NYPD protective detail—multiple armed detectives, vehicles, and backup that follow him everywhere. When he threw his inauguration block party, the city pulled 350 to 400 officers off regular duty to keep him and his guests safe. The same administration that treats a loaded .22 as a public emergency has no problem surrounding its mayor with scores of heavily armed men.
The hypocrisy is telling, if not surprising. Mamdani’s wedding in Uganda was guarded by armed commandos. His life is protected by men wielding the very tools he works to strip from every shopkeeper, driver, and homeowner who might need them to protect themselves.
That photo at the top isn’t policing, it’s political theater. The 120th posts the trophy and waits for the applause. The only crime on display is the continued refusal of New York’s political class—from Mamdani on down—to admit that the Second Amendment still applies inside city limits.