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Second Amendment activists won another victory against New York’s strict gun control laws on Thursday.
A federal judge ruled that the state’s new law, which prohibits licensed gun owners from carrying concealed weapons on private property unless explicitly allowed by the property owner, violates the constitutional right to bear arms.
“At least as to private property open to the public (the subject of this motion), New York’s restriction is unconstitutional,” wrote U.S. District Court John Sinatra, Jr., a Trump appointee. “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… New York fails that test here.”
The judge denied New York’s request for a two-week stay on the ruling, stating that the state is unlikely to succeed on appeal. He affirmed that property owners retain the right to prohibit legal gun owners from carrying firearms on their property, but the state’s blanket ban violates the right to bear arms.
“But the state 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 wrote.
The Concealed Carry Improvement Act, signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in July 2022, was passed in response to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the state’s previous concealed carry permit requirements. In December, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit blocked several law provisions but upheld the requirement for applicants to demonstrate good moral character and disclose household members. The court also banned concealed carry in “sensitive places” like theaters, bars, and public parks.
“This is yet another important victory for Second Amendment rights and another major loss for New York, authoritarian governments, and radical anti-rights organizations like Everytown and Giffords,” said Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, praising Sinatra’s decision. “We will continue to fight forward as we work to restore the full scope of the right to keep and bear arms throughout the United States. Hopefully, Kathy Hochul is ready to write another check for legal fees.”
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