Trump Pistol To Get Pulled By Boys In Blue

JUNE 6--In the wake of Donald Trump’s recent criminal convictions, the New York Police Department is moving to revoke the felon’s license--issued more than 40 years ago--to carry a handgun in Gotham.

As CNN first revealed, Trump’s license was “quietly suspended” following his indictment last year in Manhattan. At the time, two of Trump’s handguns were turned into police, while a third firearm had been shipped to Florida (where Trump legally resides).

While CNN reported that Trump had a license for “more than a decade,” he has been allowed to carry a piece for many decades. As we reported in our pre-TSG days at The Village Voice, the ex-president was initially licensed by the NYPD when he lived at 800 Fifth Avenue, a rental building a few blocks north of Trump Tower, which opened in 1983.

To secure a coveted carry license, an applicant had to show "unique and special needs" for a concealed weapon (such as transacting business with large amounts of cash, transporting valuable items like diamonds, etc.). It is unclear why Trump--who employed bodyguards--required a carry license. Though, at the time, the rich and famous--like Laurence Rockefeller, Edgar Bronfman, and New York Times publisher Arthur Ochs Sulzberger--appeared able to easily secure such permits. 

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request we submitted back when Ed Koch was mayor, NYPD officials declined to provide Trump’s written explanation for why he deserved to prowl the Upper East Side with a piece.

What the NYPD did release to us was Trump’s carry license renewal filed in 1983 for the following two years.

The form indicated that Trump’s gun--the details of which were redacted by police--was stored “when not in use” inside a “locked metal box in bottom desk drawer” at his office. “Pistol will be unloaded,” Trump reported.

Trump’s personal assistant, Norma Foerderer, was identified as the individual who would safeguard the weapon in the event of the “death or disability” of Trump, who is listed as a “Real Estate Developer.”

Trump also had to answer questions about whether he had undergone treatment for drug or alcohol abuse or had been “admitted to a Mental Institution, Sanitarium or received psychiatric treatment.” He answered “No” to both questions. Likewise, he denied suffering from any “physical defect or sickness” that would “interfere with or handicap” his handling of a firearm.

Trump’s struggles with Vietnam-era bone spurs apparently did not impact his pistolero pursuits.

The form also included a question to which Trump, now 77, would today have to answer in the affirmative: “Been arrested, indicted, summoned (other than traffic infractions), convicted for any crime, offense in any jurisdiction federal, state, or local?” (1 page)