Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
New York City Hall is typically off-limits to gun possession, whether or not you’re one of the relatively few New York City residents lucky (or well-connected) enough to have obtained a concealed carry license. According to the New York Daily News, however, one of Mayor Eric Adams’ top officials is routinely carrying his gun while on the job.
Chief Technology Officer Matt Fraser refused to comment to the Daily News, referring the paper’s reporter to his spokesperson, who used some weasel wording in his response to questions about whether or not his boss is carrying on the clock.
Fraser has had a license to carry a gun for over a decade, a City Hall spokesman told The News. The spokesman did not deny that Fraser keeps a gun on him, but said he “has not openly carried since officially assuming the role of chief technology officer.”
The mayor’s press office and spokespeople for the Office of Technology and Innovation did not immediately respond to additional questions.
Another source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, confirmed seeing Fraser with the weapon clipped to his belt on “multiple occasions.”
“This isn’t Texas. It’s New York City,” the source told The News.
And in New York City, it’s now a felony offense for concealed carry permit holders to set foot into a “gun-free” zone like City Hall or any other government building. Yet unnamed sources say Fraser’s doing so on a regular basis.
“It sends a terrible message,” said a source who said they witnessed Fraser carrying a pistol while on the job. “It freaks people out when they see he has a gun.” The source spoke under the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal.
Fraser’s decision to carry a gun to work also contradicts the code of conduct for the agency that previously oversaw the city’s tech infrastructure, the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
“Employees shall not possess a firearm or any other dangerous weapon while on or off-duty on or in Department premises, property, vehicle, or equipment,” that document states.
Under Adams, DoITT was combined with several other city tech offices to form the Office of Technology & Innovation, which Fraser now helms. The Daily News asked that the city provide it with the current code of conduct through a Freedom of Information request, but that request has not yet been fulfilled.
Forget the code of conduct. New York made it a felony to carry a concealed firearm in all government buildings, and that provision is still in effect (at least for now). If Fraser is still bringing his gun to work with him, how is that not a violation of the state’s Concealed Carry “Improvement” Act? I suppose it’s possible that Fraser is no longer carrying on the job. The sources who spoke to the Daily News didn’t indicate when they last saw his firearm, and Fraser now has a couple of NYPD detectives assigned to be by his side, though Mayor Adams denies that it constitutes a security detail for his pal.
Chief Technology Officer Matt Fraser is protected by at least two NYPD detectives — Steve Gordon and Victor Robalino, according to three sources familiar with the situation who spoke to the Daily News under the condition of anonymity.
One of the sources who confirmed the existence of Fraser’s detail and spoke anonymously out of fear of retribution pointed out that there’s no precedent for someone in his post to be provided with a protective unit.
“He is the civilian head of technology for the city,” the source said. “He doesn’t do law enforcement for the city.”
While a spokeswoman for Mayor Adams didn’t dispute that the two detectives work under Fraser, she denied that they constitute a police detail.
“While CTO Fraser has an expanded and unparalleled portfolio as head of OTI, he does not have a security detail,” said Adams’ spokeswoman Kayla Mamelak. “Those who work for him serve multiple roles, including providing CTO Fraser with important real-time insights and context on issues at the nexus of technology and public safety.”
Adams himself also denied that Fraser has a detail, saying at an unrelated press conference that “no police is around him all day trying to protect him.”
“No one is going after my chief technology officer, he doesn’t have a police detail,” he said, after audibly sighing. “Matt is looking at how do we use the technology to address public safety in this city. Having knowledgeable police officers participating in this role is so helpful.”
Sure thing. That’s why they’re assigned full time to his office. I’m sure other city agencies have the same arrangement, right? Every department gets two representatives tasked to the Chief Technology Officer?
Mayor Eric Adams and his cronies are fighting like hell to keep the average New Yorker from being able to access her right to armed self-defense in public, but it seems like they have a very different standard when it comes to their own protection. Either they’re carrying themselves or they’re relying on a security detail to watch over them; either way, there’s someone with a gun prepared to offer an armed response in case of an attack while they expect millions of residents to just be good, cooperative victims and hope they don’t die before help arrives.