Jan. 3, 2024 - Epoch Times
08:30
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| There was just a legal victory for gun owners in the ongoing battle over the Second Amendment. | |
| Specifically, an organization called the Gun Owners of America, they secured a partial but significant legal victory in their effort to repeal New York's so-called Concealed Carry Improvement Act. | |
| And even though this was a New York case, the ramifications of this decision will be felt in blue cities and blue states across the whole nation. | |
| However, in order to explain what this means in practical terms, let me set the stage for you properly regarding this particular legal battle. | |
| Now to start with, the U.S. Supreme Court decision which started all this is the famous Bruin case, which, just for your reference, was the first gun rights-related case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in... | |
| Well over a decade. | |
| Let me give you a brief refresher on what that particular case was all about. | |
| You see, up until last year, if you happen to be a resident of New York, it was almost completely impossible to get a concealed carry permit. | |
| That's because the state of New York has been, for the past 111 years, forcing people to prove that they have a quote-unquote special need for self-protection. | |
| The relevant statute in New York was the Sullivan Act of 1911. | |
| And that particular law, it made it such that concealed carry permits can be issued at the sole discretion of local law enforcement. | |
| And in order for a common citizen to obtain one of these concealed carry permits, he or she must quote, Meaning, That only if the local police agreed that you have a special need for self-protection would you be given a license to conceal carry your gun outside your home. | |
| And proving that you had a special need was not easy. | |
| It did not matter whether you lived in a high-crime neighborhood, and it did not matter whether you were robbed several times in the previous year. | |
| Unless you were an actual celebrity, or some type of an actual security guard, you were just out of luck. | |
| It was nearly impossible to get one of these concealed carry permits. | |
| Now eventually, in the year 2018, the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, they filed a lawsuit against the superintendent of the New York Police Force, arguing that the gun laws that were on the books for the past 111 years were all along unconstitutional. | |
| And after several years of legal back and forth, this case finally wound up in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, Specifically, you had Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett all rule that New York's law was, in fact, unconstitutional and that the ability of a person to carry a pistol in public was a constitutional right under the Second Amendment. | |
| Furthermore, in the majority opinion of the court, which for your reference was written by Justice Clarence Thomas, there was a sentence, which essentially opened the door for other gun-restricting laws to be rolled back. | |
| Here's specifically what that sentence was, again, written by Clarence Thomas in the majority opinion. | |
| Quote, The burden falls on the defendants, meaning the government, to show that New York's proper cause requirement is consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. | |
| constitutional rights are enshrined with a scope that they were understood to have when the people adopted them. | |
| With these principles in mind, the court concludes that respondents have failed to meet their burden to identify an American tradition justifying New York's proper cause requirement. | |
| And so, with that opinion statement, Justice Clarence Thomas, as well as the majority of the court, they established a new legal precedent. | |
| Moving forward, federal, state, and local governments will have to prove in court that their restrictive gun laws are, quote, And if they can't prove it, well, the law has to be scrapped. | |
| Now, you would imagine that this Bruin Supreme Court decision pretty much solved the issue of getting a concealed carry permit here in New York. | |
| However, you would be wrong. | |
| Because following this Supreme Court decision, Governor Kathy Hochul, she called the state legislature of New York in secession, and they passed a new set of laws which allowed the state to deny people gun licenses if the state determined that the applicant has, quote-unquote, bad moral character. | |
| Almost immediately, Governor Kathy Hochul called the legislature into session to pass the Concealed Carry Improvement Act. | |
| The act removed mention of proper cause, but expanded all other requirements. | |
| An applicant's social media will be scrutinized, and they must provide contact information for a list of close family and friends. | |
| And so if you're wondering how these government officials will determine whether or not you have good moral character, well, according to the law, when you apply for one of these concealed carry permits in New York, you have to give the government official three years worth of your social media history in order for them to look through it and determine whether or not you indeed have good moral character. | |
| And of course, given the fact that this is New York State, after all, you better hope that you did not publicly endorse a certain candidate during the 2020 presidential election. | |
| Essentially, at the heart of it, what happened was that since the Bruin Supreme Court decision overturned the law, which stopped people from getting permits, well, instead of just complying with the Supreme Court, the governments of both New York State as well as New York City, they just put up new window dressing. | |
| So that it appeared that at least on the surface, they were complying with the Supreme Court decision. | |
| But underneath, the practical effect was the same. | |
| Denying people their Second Amendment rights based on the sole discretion of some government bureaucratic official who can decide whether or not you have good moral character. | |
| Furthermore, besides checking three years' worth of your social media history, this newly passed law, the newly passed Concealed Carry Improvement Act, it also did the following. | |
| It established additional gun-free zones, such as Times Square. | |
| It established a ban on carrying guns on public transport and in churches. | |
| It mandated 16 hours of classroom training and two hours of live fire training as a prequalification to get a carry permit. | |
| It mandated getting express permission to conceal carry in private residences and business establishments, meaning in practical terms, you would have to ask every store owner that you go into whether or not you can conceal carry in their store and... | |
| It required the individual to attend an in-person interview and provide personal character references in order to apply for a permit. | |
| And so, shortly after this bill was signed into law, an organization called the Gun Owners of America, who described themselves as being the country's only no-compromise gun lobby, they quickly filed a lawsuit against the state challenging the constitutionality of this new law. | |
| And after months of legal back and forth, just earlier this month, they secured a partial victory. | |
| That's because at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, they officially affirmed a federal injunction against several portions of the quote-unquote Conceal Carry Improvement Act. | |
| Meaning, in plain English, that the court essentially struck down several different portions of the law. | |
| Specifically, this court struck down the following provisions. | |
| Individuals are no longer required to submit social media accounts to a government official for review. | |
| They struck down the restriction on concealed carrying in private property which is accessible to the public, such as stores. | |
| And thirdly, state law was amended to allow those who are quote-unquote responsible for security to be able to conceal carry in houses of worship. | |
| Meaning that these parts of the law have been struck down. | |
| However, the gun owners of America, being again a no-compromise gun lobby, they vowed to continue fighting until the entire law has been scrapped. | |
| Here's what they said in a statement following the court's decision. | |
| This past Friday, gun owners of America secured a partial victory in our legal fight to repeal the onerous concealed carry restrictions enacted by Governor Kathy Hochul. | |
| This battle is not yet over. | |
| As gun owners of America plan to take this case all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. | |
| Frustratingly, the Second Circuit failed to faithfully apply Bruin, having left the good moral character requirement in place for those seeking a concealed carry permit. | |
| Additionally, much of the court's opinion reads like a repudiation of Bruin, finding ways to claim its holdings don't apply here. | |
| Gun owners of America and its attorneys will continue fighting until all of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act is repealed and New Yorkers are freed from the bonds of gun control laws which defy the Second Amendment and multiple Supreme Court decisions. | |
| And so the fight continues. | |
| However, in the meantime, if you happen to live in New York State, at the very least, you no longer need to give some government bureaucrat three years' worth of your social media history, and you no longer have to ask each and every store that you visit if you can pretty please bring your gun inside with you. | |
| If you'd like to read more about this case, I'll throw the links to my research notes. | |
| They'll be down in the description box below if you happen to be the type of person that likes to dig into the wheat. | |
| And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. | |
| Stay informed. |
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