Where Exactly Is Times Square? NYC Must Say As It Makes Gun-Free Zone

NEW YORK CITY — Where is Times Square?

New Yorkers — and much of the world — generally know the answer, but the city plan's to make the famous destination a gun-free zone must legally define its borders, according to a new bill.

City Council members Tuesday held a hearing on a bill that sets the borders for Times Square, where its world-famous kaleidoscope of signs soon will be joined by ones emblazoned with a public safety message: "Gun Free Zone."

Those temporary "gun free" signs will go up Thursday around Times Square, NYPD officials told City Council members.

The signage will become permanent if and when the City Council enacts the local law banning the public from carrying guns in Times Square, said Robert Barrows, the department's director of legal operations, during the hearing.

"The signage will be placed at every entry point in the zone," he said. "There will be two signs on each side."

The signs come amid a shakeup in New York's firearms laws after the Supreme Court threw out the state's concealed carry law.

State lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul, in response to the court's decision, pushed forward a gun safety law that bans firearms in Times Square and other "sensitive locations" such as public transit, schools, parks and places of worship.

The City Council's bill would locally declare Times Square a "sensitive location zone."

And it would also identify the Times Square area as two tracts: one bounded by Eighth Avenue, West 40th Street, Sixth Avenue and West 53rd Street; and another encompassing the area within Ninth Avenue, West 40th Street, Eighth Avenue and West 48th Street.

Council Members questioned whether the NYPD had done enough to inform gun-carrying members of the public about the restrictions due to begin Thursday.

"I'm not hearing PSAs, I'm not hearing commercials," said Council Member Rita Joseph. "What if I'm the average gun-carrying person and I don't have access to the internet? How would I get that information?"

NYPD officials said they'll send out targeted materials toward gun permit holders and those who seek them.