After winning a big victory against “may issue” laws like New York’s in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, the NRA and other gun rights groups are headed back into battle after NY’s Governor Kathy Hochul and the state’s legislature passed new laws in direct contradiction to the spirit of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Bruen. At America’s 1st Freedom (an NRA magazine), Frank Miniter explains the NRA’s new challenge, writing:
“A year ago today, the Supreme Court ruled to strip away the rights of a governor to protect her people from concealed carry weapons. We refused to go backwards,” tweeted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) on June 23.
This tweet—and other statements from Gov. Hochul—is an admission she is obstructing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.
In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, an NRA-backed case, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding citizens to carry a firearm for personal protection when it struck the “proper cause” requirement in New York’s Sullivan Law.
In doing so, the Supreme Court clearly declared that the government cannot trample on our Second Amendment rights through “abusive” permitting schemes.
Nevertheless, people barely had time to read the Bruen decision before Gov. Hochul and the New York state legislature blatantly stepped all over the ruling with the inappropriately named Concealed Carry Improvement Act.
Although the Concealed Carry Improvement Act doesn’t require citizens demonstrate they have a proper cause to carry firearms, it banned carry almost everywhere with unconstitutional “sensitive-place” restrictions. Also, citizens applying to the state for their constitutional right to bear arms must first take a 16-hour training class, including a two-hour live-fire session. Then they must have an in-person interview with a licensing officer where they must disclose several types of personal information, including all of their social-media accounts. The officer then reviews that information to determine if the applicant has “good moral character,” which is even more subjective than the unconstitutional “proper cause” standard. The licensing officer then has up to six months—unless they want more time, which they will be granted indefinitely—to pore through the applicant’s information to determine if that individual is “eligible” for a license.
When Gov. Hochul was asked where people could carry under the gun-control law, she said “probably some streets.”
As a result, the NRA sued.
The state’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act “replaces one unconstitutional, discretionary law with another unconstitutional, discretionary law,” the NRA lawsuit says. “The [law] contains a slew of burdensome and discriminatory requirements for obtaining a Handgun Carry License—violating the First, Second, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendments—and an additional slew of restrictions on where and how Handgun Carry License holders may exercise their right to carry arms outside the home.”
Action Line: Normally, what happens in New York doesn’t affect you too much if you live elsewhere, but the state’s battle with the NRA over how governments can regulate the concealed carry of firearms will have ramifications for Americans everywhere. Keep your eye on the next battle, and until then, get your gun and your training now. Stay in the fight with Your Survival Guy by clicking here to subscribe to my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter.
