Anti-gun forces that dominate New York suffered a legal setback on Thursday when a federal judge in Buffalo ruled in favor of the Second Amendment and law-abiding gun owners.
The ineptly named Concealed Carry Improvement Act, enacted in 2022 as a rejection of the Supreme Court’s authority on constitutional issues, attempted to tightly control where citizens may exercise their rights.
Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed the controversial measure into law.
U.S. District Court Judge John Sinatra, Jr. ruled that the Empire State law prohibiting licensed firearm owners from possessing their weapons on all private property without expressed permission is unconstitutional. Gun owners would need to be informed by a posted sign or other means of consent before being able to carry their firearms for self-defense.
Sinatra roundly rejected the state’s argument. “At least as to private property open to the public, New York’s restriction is unconstitutional.”
The suit concerned such property that is accessible to the general public. Convenience stores and restaurants are examples of these locations at which carry would be forbidden.
Sinatra continued. “Regulation in this area is permissible only if the government demonstrates that the new enactment is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of sufficiently analogous regulations.” The judge concluded that New York’s legal representation failed to reach that bar.
A bar that was set by the Supreme Court’s momentous 2022 Bruen decision upholding the long-established right to keep and bear arms.
The New York attorney general’s office requested a two-week stay in the ruling as they prepared to file an appeal, but Sinatra denied this motion. He determined that the state was unlikely to win on the merits of its case.
The Trump appointee agreed that private property owners are within their constitutional rights to deny a person’s ability to bear arms on their land. That ability, however, does not extend to government officials.
Sinatra explained that New York “may not unilaterally exercise that right and, thereby, interfere with the long-established Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens who seek to carry for self-defense on private property open to the public.”
The judge relied heavily on prior Supreme Court rulings that upheld the rights of law-abiding citizens to possess a weapon based on the Second and 14th Amendments.
As could be expected, state officials reacted in dismay at Sinatra’s ruling against their anti-gun agenda. Hochul issued a statement Monday giving herself credit for turning New York into “a leader in fighting gun violence.”
She asserted that the judge’s ruling, merely the latest legal pushback against the state’s turn against gun rights, will not “discourage her efforts to keep New Yorkers safe.”
The Bruen decision was a historic victory for the New York Rifle & Pistol Association. Attorney and member of the board of directors Joel E. Abelove lauded Sinatra’s decision as yet another step toward reestablishing Second Amendment rights for the people.
Abelove explained, “It’s a significant ruling, because while there had been a preliminary injunction keeping the state from enforcing this particular provision, this is a final decision by the judge on the issue.”
The attorney added that, while an appeal is possible, Sinatra’s conclusion “is wholly based on Supreme Court precedent.”
Abelove, a former district attorney who now crusades for gun rights, specifically noted the high court’s stand on the Bill of Rights. “According to the Court, it’s the government’s burden to prove that there are sufficient historical analogues to the modern statute to justify the enforcement of it, the encroachment on your Second Amendment right.”
And, of course, there are no such examples from the Founding Era which could possibly justify the New York restriction.
They say the first step to solving a problem is admitting there is one.
Well, the Pew Collectors Anonymous is your way of admitting you have a problem buying guns but you have no intentions of solving that problem, because Pew Collectors Anonymous isn’t about solving a problem; it’s about embracing it.
So be sure to hit the link above and grab your Pew Collectors Anonymous T-Shirts, Hats, and Drinkware.
Click below to purchase.
