Barely 24 hours after the Second Amendment Foundation announced it is leading a federal lawsuit against New York’s new—and “clumsily crafted”—gun control laws hastily adopted in reaction to the Supreme Court’s nullification of its century-old concealed carry scheme, the National Review published a critical look at the new regulations by senior writer Michael Brendan Dougherty.
His analysis is hardly complimentary.
“It’s a cliché to say so,” Dougherty writes, “but these regulations bother only the most law-abiding people in the state. Almost all gun crimes in New York are committed by people who illegally possess their firearms, and law enforcement estimates that over 100,000 illegal guns are floating around New York City alone.”
SAF is joined in the lawsuit by the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., and two private citizens, Brett Christian and John Boron. The case is known as Boron v. Bruen.
“The New York Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul are making a mockery of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which struck down the state’s onerous ‘proper cause’ requirement in June,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “While they’re playing politics, the rights of law-abiding New York citizens are being cavalierly trampled. We cannot allow that to happen just so anti-gunners in Albany can play games with the constitution, just to see whether they can get away with it.”
This appears to concur with Dougherty’s approach. He is especially critical of the way New York has literally disqualified carry permit holders who were qualified under the old system but now find themselves disqualified “because their shop is in a special protected zone, or because they use public transport or frequently pass through public parks.” This point is made in the SAF lawsuit, because the state and the city have established “sensitive places” zones that now encompass a lot of businesses where the owners were previously allowed to have their permitted handguns.
Dougherty also disdains the way New York is now requiring proof of “good moral character” rather than “good cause” to obtain a permit, plus applicants must now complete a firearms safety course.
“Basically,” he says, “New York decided to add a First Amendment violation as a bit of sauce to flavor the violation of the Second Amendment.”
Perhaps the capper is Dougherty’s observation, “And the new legislation also imposes all sorts of other burdens, such as gun stores recording all the details about ammo you purchase, or fanciful requirements that may not even be technologically possible, such as a potential future requirement that gunmakers use micro stamping to make fired ammunition traceable to the gun.”
The SAF lawsuit spans 31 pages.
“The fact that New York’s new regulatory scheme essentially prohibits lawful carry in most public places is outrageous,” he continued. “The state is being too clever by half, and we’re confident that the federal courts, with the recent guidance from the Supreme Court on Second Amendment jurisprudence, will bring a quick end to this nonsense.”
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SAF Files Federal Lawsuit Challenging New NY Gun Control Law
