(The Center Square) — A federal district court has struck down part of a New York law that made it illegal to carry a firearm on private property without consent from the owner.
The ruling issued by the U.S. District Court John Sinatra, Jr. effectively blocks the state from enforcing its concealed carry restrictions, saying it interferes "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 also rejected New York's request to grant a two-week stay in the ruling while the Attorney General's office filed an appeal, saying the state is unlikely to succeed in the legal challenge. Sinatra said while private citizens have a right to exclude guns from their property, the state can't "unilaterally" impose such restrictions without violating the Second Amendment.
“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," Sinatra, a Trump-appointed judge, wrote in the 43-page ruling. "New York fails that test here."
A law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in July 2022 sought to close "loopholes" in private gun sales by tightening firearm licensing and sales rules to make it harder to purchase a gun. It also defined private properties as “restricted” areas where carrying a gun is illegal.
The changes were approved in response to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark decision in the N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which struck down a New York law requiring applicants to show “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a firearm.
But critics of the new requirements filed a lawsuit to block the changes, arguing that the update to the concealed carry law was an attempted end run around the Bruen decision. The Supreme Court declined to take up the challenge, but it continued to be litigated in New York federal courts.
Gun rights groups praised Sinatra's ruling, saying it would allow New Yorkers to defend themselves when they are outside of their homes.
"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," Brandon Combs, president of the Firearms Policy Coalition, said in a statement.
"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," he said. "Hopefully Kathy Hochul is ready to write another check for legal fees."
The ruling comes as New York further tightens its firearms restrictions with a slew of bills signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul, including one that requires firearms dealers to post a sign warning that guns in the home "increase the risk of suicide, death during a domestic dispute or unintentional death to children" and requiring credit card companies to assign a code for sales of firearm and ammunition.
Hochul touted the law that was blocked by the judge two days later, accusing the Supreme Court's conservative majority of "stripping away the power of the governor of this state to make her citizens safe."
"When the Supreme Court did that, we didn’t throw up our hands and surrender," Hochul, a Democrat, said in remarks on Wednesday. "We fought back. We doubled down. We came up with legislation."
But gun rights groups said the federal court's latest ruling shows that the state's restrictions on the open carry of firearms in "sensitive places" are unconstitutional.
"Once again, Empire State anti-gunners have been held in check by a judge who understands the Second Amendment is not a second-class right," Alan M. Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, said in a statement. "The state tried to perpetuate its virtual ban on legal carry by prohibiting firearms on all private property open to the public for whatever reason, and the judge correctly said this restriction does not pass constitutional muster."
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