‘Pretextual stops’ were deemed constitutional by the Supreme Court. Almost anywhere else, the stops are usually used as a pretext to search for drugs since the gun laws in most states are nowhere as strict as in NY City.<\/p>\n
Up in smoke: New weed law leads to drop in gun busts, NYPD sources say<\/a><\/p>\n New York\u2019s recent decision to legalize weed has\u00a0led to an alarming drop<\/a>\u00a0in gun arrests \u2014 at the same time shootings are\u00a0surging across the Big Apple<\/a>, The Post has learned.<\/p>\n Under\u00a0NYPD enforcement guidelines\u00a0outlined in a March 31\u00a0memo<\/a>\u00a0that cited the new pot law\u00a0ban, cops are banned from searching\u00a0a vehicle\u2019s trunk just because they smell pot during a traffic stop.<\/p>\n The \u201csweeping changes\u201d \u2014 which took effect immediately \u2014 also prohibit cops from searching anyone just for toking up \u201calmost anywhere that cigarette smoking is allowed.\u201d<\/p>\n But large numbers of gun busts have typically\u00a0been made by cops who smell fresh or burnt marijuana after pulling over a car, according to NYPD sources.<\/p>\n Last year, 33 percent of all gun-possession\u00a0arrests resulted from vehicle stops, with a majority of those also involving weed, a source familiar with the matter said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Before the new law went into effect, that number rose to 45 percent this year, the source said.<\/p>\n NYPD statistics show that there were a total of 1,409 gun arrests \u2014 or an average of 108 a week \u2014 from Jan. 4 through April 4.<\/p>\n But during the\u00a0five weeks\u00a0that ended May\u00a09, most of which were covered by the new pot law, there were just 209 gun busts \u2014 cutting the average by more than half to just 53\u00a0a week.<\/p>\n At the same time, shootings during April\u00a0skyrocketed 166 percent<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 to 149 from 56 during the same month in 2020, according to NYPD CompStat data released\u00a0last week.<\/p>\n The past week also\u00a0saw\u00a0shootings more than double \u2014 to 36 from 15 \u2014 compared to the same period last year.<\/p>\n That grim tally included the three innocent bystanders\u00a0wounded by stray bullets<\/a>\u00a0in Times Square on Saturday \u2014 among them a 4-year-old\u00a0girl from Brooklyn, Skye Martinez, who was shopping for toys with her family.<\/p>\n