I recently vacationed in New York City (NYC) and Boston. Leading up to the trip, I had always heard rumors and horror stories about people who had carried guns in NYC. Now, the thing I had going for me is that I’m a full-time law enforcement officer (LEO) in Kansas. So I knew I was legally covered under the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act (LEOSA). For those who don’t know what that is, it’s a law passed by Congress to allow law enforcement to carry in all 50 states and territories with few restrictions.
My hesitation comes from stories I’d heard. I remember in the police academy, one of my fellow classmates was from NYC (Brooklyn to be specific). He asked one of our instructors if he could carry when he went back home. While his answer was yes, he told the guy he better get a “5-shot snub nose revolver” to be safe since NYC doesn’t even like cops carrying guns. I’d also heard rumors from other friends in LE that the New York City Police Department (NYPD) would arrest cops they catch carrying guns, then let the courts figure out if they could legally carry or not. Spoiler alert, that’s all not true.
Prior to the trip, I was doing research about actually carrying a concealed gun in NYC. During my search, I found an article by Ed Monk, who is also a LEO and firearms instructor. This article was the only primary first hand account I found of someone carrying in NYC. I located the New York State Attorney General’s website that talks about the “SAFE Act”. If you are unfamiliar with the SAFE Act it’s… We don’t have all day to discuss the issue with the safe act, just look it up. In summary it’s a very anti-gun law in New York. At the time it originally passed it limited magazine capacity to 7 rounds, among other things The SAFE Act has since been amended to 10 round magazine limits.
There are exemptions for LEO, so I called the state Attorney General’s office to learn about the exemptions. What they informed me was that if you are in NY or NYC for official business, you are exempt from the magazine limits of the Safe Act. If you are in NY or NYC for vacation, you can carry, but you are still limited to the 10-round magazine capacity limits of the SAFE Act. To clarify the magazine limits, you can’t just load 10 rounds in a standard 17-round Glock magazine and call it good. That’s still a larger than 10-round magazine and you are risking getting caught with a felony in NYC. I don’t want to rely on professional courtesy to keep me out of trouble.
With that in mind, I debated getting a 10-round magazine for my usual carry gun, a Staccato C2. The biggest reason I didn’t go that route was that 10-round 2011 mags cost $70-80. So, if I got the minimum of 3 that I wanted, that would cost around $240 just in magazines, which I’d only use for a week. So I decided to carry my Glock 48. The 48 comes with a 10-round magazine as standard. I’d switched out the magazine catch to be compatible with the all-metal Shield Arms 15-round magazine. I’d occasionally carry the G48 when I needed or wanted a smaller, lighter gun. To follow the SAFE Act, I converted the G48 back to the stock magazine configuration.
Let’s discuss the gun itself. The Glock 48 started out as a stock Glock MOS. I replaced the polymer Glock sights with Ameriglo blackout suppressor height sights. I added a Holosun 407K using a C&H precision optics plate. Kagworks’ inverted slide catch, Tango Down magazine release, Tango Down trigger shoe, and a Streamlight TLR-7 Sub round out the parts and accessories. Additionally, the frame was stripped by a local gun shop. The holster used is a Tenicor Sagax Lux 2 AIWB holster and an ABDO AIWB mag pouch. I also verified my Glock 48 was up to date on my department’s off duty firearms qualification list.
When I was getting ready to leave for my trip, I had to fit everything into a single checked bag as I was flying into LaGuardia Airport in Queens. That also limited how I packed my bags. I knew I wasn’t going to the hotel until after a day of walking around NYC. For the flight I picked up a small lock box from Stack-On for $30, which fulfilled the TSA firearm storage guidelines. I unloaded the G48 and placed it in the lock box with three magazines and 31 rounds of ammo in the original manufacturer’s box. Getting checked into the plane at home wasn’t difficult and maybe added 5 minutes to the check-in process.
When I landed at LaGuardia, my bag was waiting for me at the Delta check-in office. Since it contained a checked firearm, it wasn’t placed on the regular bag return. I was a little surprised when the Delta employee just handed me my bag after checking my ID. I was expecting the NYPD to do a check or verify my identity. When I asked about that out of curiosity, I was told that the NYPD only checks outbound flights for New York carry permits.
After I left the Delta desk with my bags, I located a bathroom where I could put my gun on. Due to still being in public, I didn’t want to make any unnecessary noise, so I simply loaded my magazines and placed one in my gun. It wasn’t until about 45 minutes later, when I found a safe, private place, that I could chamber a round. I wanted to make sure that if a negligent discharge happened, the bullet would be contained. So I kept the muzzle pointed at a stack of books while loading the gun.
I spent a total of two days in NYC, mainly in Manhattan, and I walked about 26 miles in that time. Then I spent another four days in Boston, Massachusetts. I’m going to go through the list of places I visited and their reactions to carrying a gun inside. For starters, no restaurants I went to had any kind of security that checked for people carrying, nor did public transportation. I exclusively used the subway and bus when getting around the city. If I didn’t see security, I didn’t ask if I could carry–I just carried, just like back home. I did not attempt to walk past security and ask for forgiveness later.
The first place I stopped was Federal Hall National Memorial. This is run by the National Park Service. Since it’s part of the national parks, they had educational park rangers, but there was no security or law enforcement on site.
The second place I went to was the 9/11 memorial and museum. While waiting in line to enter the building, I noticed that there was a security screening, just like at the airport, upon entering. Once I was next to go through security, I talked to one of the security guards. I showed him my badge, told him I was a LEO, and asked if LEOs could carry inside. He told me to wait while he got his boss.
His boss came over, checked my ID, and said no. They don’t allow anyone to carry inside unless it’s one of their employees or a on-duty LEO. However, they have a lock box for off-duty LEOs to store their firearms. He told me to walk over to the Oculus Plaza (it’s a building just to the east of the museum) and find a Port Authority Police Officer (PAPD) and tell them I’m a LEO and need to “Lock Up”. So I did just that. The Port Authority has a secure office inside the Oculus on the northwestern corner.
The PAPD officer checked my police ID, than asked for my driver’s license and phone number. They keep a copy of your ID with your gun in case you don’t pick it up, this way they can call you. The PAPD officer said it’s usually not a problem, but they had someone forget their gun once, so they now collect that information. The Officer gave me the phone number to the desk sergeant in case I needed it when I returned.
While I was locking up my gun, a U.S. Deputy Marshal was there doing the same thing. The PAPD officer was very professional in the matter and made the process smooth. When I went back to the Museum, the staff let me return to my place in line and go through security quickly. Their security staff also helped make this process easy and painless. After observing their security staff, it didn’t appear to be the regular minimum-wage security guards you often find at sporting events or concerts. They were all wearing suits and looked professional. There were roaming armed Port Authority Police officers in the area as well.
The third place I went to was One World Trade Center. While the museum is still part of the World Trade Center, it’s a separate building on the complex. So, after I left the museum, I walked over to One World Trade Center. The same carry policy was in place for going to the top of the observation deck. They use the same PAPD gun lockers. So if you do both the museum and observation deck on the same day, you only have to lock your gun up for the first event, then pick it up after the last.
The 9/11 memorial is outside and open to the public, so you can carry at the memorial. As far as I could gather, you can carry in One World Trade Center since you can carry in their lobby while paying and picking up tickets. It’s just prior to going up to the observation deck when you have to lock up. Once I was finished at the Museum and Observation deck, I walked back to the PAPD to gather my gun and magazines.
I started off by getting breakfast at Grand Central Station. There was a good amount of NYPD officers roaming the station, but no security preventing carry. I walked around Central Park on my way back to the hotel. The park had a decent number of people enjoying it, and since it’s open to the public, carrying is also allowed.
The fifth place I attended was the Intrepid Museum. The line to get into this floating air and space museum was about 45 minutes long, but it was well worth the wait. The Intrepid did have two sets of security guards monitoring a metal detector. Before walking in, I showed the security guard my badge, stated I was a law enforcement officer, and asked if LEOs could carry inside. He asked me to wait while he got his supervisor. The supervisor verified my police ID and let me carry into the museum.
Right next to the Intrepid Museum was the Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises. Here, they offer 1-3 hour cruises around the Hudson River and Bay. While they technically had security, it’s hard to call it that. The security was just checking backpacks. I believe they were mainly looking for outside food and drinks, since they wanted you to buy overpriced concessions on board. I didn’t ask; they didn’t question anything, aI just carried on board.
The last major tourist attraction I visited was the Empire State Building. I asked before purchasing tickets if I could bring my concealed pistol, and I was told yes. So, once I got to the security checkpoint, I showed them my badge, and again they asked me to stand by for a supervisor. When he came over and checked my ID, he asked what agency I worked for. The supervisor told me they usually only allow local NYPD officers, federal law enforcement officers, and Empire State security to carry up to the observation deck. However, he didn’t want to ruin the trip since I was with my family. So he told me he would make an exception this time since I was still a LEO. I then went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
The last place I went to in NYC wasn’t a building but a cross-section of streets, Times Square! One of the busiest streets in the world, that averages 300,000+ people a day. So as you can imagine, it’s busy, very busy. I say it as a caution, not because it was about security or similar concerns. There is a NYPD substation on the edge of Times Square for reference.
If you had to use or pull a gun in self-defense with a crowd as it is, you have to be extremely cautious of your backstop and crossfire, as you don’t want to hit an innocent bystander. Anything past a few yards on this street, you would most likely find someone walking in your line of fire. Just be aware of this, as a contact shot would probably make more sense with this large crowd. I imagine you would probably have NYPD officers around you within seconds.
I’ll cover the last part rather quickly. After I left NYC, I went to Boston, Massachusetts, for the 250th anniversary of the battle of Lexington and Concord. While in Boston, I visited several tourist attractions. The following locations gave me no issues whatsoever: Minutemen National Park, Salem, the Trail of Freedom, the Old North Church, and the Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum.
Boston being a smaller city, I don’t think as many places have security like in NYC. The first place I experienced security was at the USS Constitution. Since it was still an active US Navy warship, they had active duty Navy personnel on board. The entrance to the ship had armed security and metal detectors. I asked one of the security guards if LEO could carry inside. He said no, but he had a gun locker in the office for LEOs to lock up while on the ship. The USS Constitution Museum is not attached to the Ship; it does not have security, and is managed by the National Park Service. Therefore, after I left the Ship and put my gun back on, I was able to carry it into the museum.
Lastly, I visited the JFK Library. They had Armed security. I asked if LEO could carry inside, and I was told no. While I usually don’t like or recommend leaving a gun in the car, in this case, I had a lock box in my car from flying into NYC. With this, I locked my gun up discreetly and used a steel cable to secure it to an anchor point in the vehicle. When I went back inside, the armed guard did not make me go through the metal detector and I was able to carry pepper spray inside. The security guards were trying to allow me to carry inside, but their boss said no since it’s a federal building. The Security guards said they used to work for the Boston PD before they retired.
I hope this helps anyone debating whether to carry a concealed handgun in New York City under the Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act. I’d recommend that you carry and don’t let the rumors discourage you from exercising your right to defend yourself and others. It was a lot more pleasant than I expected.
Just remember that, as of April 2025, LEOSA does not cover magazine capacity, so don’t get caught up on that. Just accept the fact that you can carry something, and get involved in local and national politics if you want to see change. If enough people support national reciprocity, it could be a right that everyone can utilize. I’ve also heard the FOP is working on adding a nationwide exemption to the magazine limit of LEOSA.
Below is a letter I wrote to my state legislature and various gun rights organizations.…
I host two local watch enthusiast meetups each month. We're located in Salt Lake City,…
In our previous entry of Living Legends we spoke with law enforcement veteran, competitor, and…
Recently I saw a thread over at pistol-forum about a new speed loader from 5-Star,…
If you've been reading Primer Peak for the past few years, you've probably seen me…
It's never been a better time to be a consumer in the gun industry. It…