Deplorable Me
.700 Nitro Express
Blueprint for challenging New York’s concealed carry law?
A federal judge has recently written, what could become, a blueprint for challenging and striking down New York’s concealed carry law. Read more here:
www.audacy.com
Did anyone else catch this on WBEN (Buffalo) this morning?
Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Back in July, New York State lawmakers went into a special session in an attempt to limit the proliferation of firearms in public after the Supreme Court gutted one of the state’s century-old handgun licensing law.
In the end, the state elected to overhaul its rules for carrying guns, allowing many more gun owners to apply for a license to carry a concealed weapon, but would seek to set new restrictions on where firearms can be carried.
Some of the new provisions as part of this new concealed carry law includes the banning of people carrying firearms into places of business unless owners put up signage saying guns are welcome, new requirements for obtaining a handgun permit, background checks for all purchases of ammunition for guns that require a permit, and the barring people with a history of dangerous behavior from getting handgun permits.
In addition, as part of the process of applying for a pistol permit, the state is requiring people to hand over the social media accounts for additional monitoring and screening.
However, a federal judge has recently written, what could become, a blueprint for challenging and striking down New York’s concealed carry law. As part of a 78-page decision from U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby, where he denied a request to stop the law from taking effect, he outlined a number of reasons why the law could be deemed unconstitutional in the end.
- The new law omitted the phrase “other than in self-defense,” which could create a Second Amendment problem.
- The state’s list of “sensitive places” is extensive, and automatically declaring private property a restricted location usurps private property rights.
- The law’s social media and character reference requirements grant too much discretion to licensing officers and risk punishment for political speech in violation of the First Amendment
- Fifth Amendment concerns stem from an applicant having to incriminate themselves by providing all the information required for the permit.
"Basically, the judge in finding that the parties didn't have standing, went further, and basically rendered an opinion that the law is unconstitutional for a number of different reasons. Unusual, but not unprecedented," said Attorney Paul Cambria of the judge's opinion. "He lays out a number of our our arguments and some support for them."
Cambria certainly has his own reasons for believing the statutes of the state's concealed carry law are unconstitutional. He has indicated those reasonings in a lawsuit that he has filed for local real estate developer Carl Paladino.
"What I focused on in our lawsuit was that there is this presumption that business owners do not allow a concealed carry on their premises. The only way that that could be changed is if they were to put up a sign. Our position is that the Supreme Court decided that the Second Amendment grants a constitutional right to conceal and carry under certain circumstances," Cambria explained.
"There is no constitutional right, that I'm aware of, that requires some kind of consent on the part of a member of the public. Basically, this statute sets up a situation saying, 'Well, the Second Amendment, according to the Supreme Court, grants this right, however, unless the owner of the establishment agrees, you can exercise that right.' So our position is, there's no constitutional right that requires the public to consent. You either have the right or you don't. It's not a matter of somebody agreeing that you have the right."
As he stands with the case filed for Paladino, while also evaluating the analysis from others like Justice Suddaby, Cambria feels there is enough evidence to suggest that the New York State concealed carry is, indeed, unconstitutional and should be overturned.
"I'm convinced that a court is going to find it unconstitutional, whether it's in our case or some others, it's inevitable, as far as I'm concerned," Cambria said.
If the courts find New York's concealed carry law unconstitutional, that would then force State Legislators to return to the drawing board and configure new gun laws that fit the guidelines established following the Supreme Court's ruling back in late June.
"All the states have to come into compliance with the Supreme Court's ruling. There'll be a number of states that will have to alter their laws so that they come into compliance with that ruling. New York is just one of them," Cambria said.