New York wants the the U.S. Supreme Court to permit its new law restricting concealed guns to be enforced while a challenge plays out in the lower courts.
State Attorney General Letitia James petitioned the Supreme Court for the action a month after the law was challenged by a gun owner. It's the first time the court has been asked to review a law following its June opinion that declared New York's previous law on concealed firearms unconstitional and more more broadly interpreted the Second Amendment on the issue.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the "Concealed Carry Improvement Act" (CCIA) in July after the Supreme Cour struck down the state's 108-year-old law limiting who can obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public.
A district court blocked most of the new law, however, a federal appeals court put the decision on hold, allowing the state to continue to enforce it while going through the appeal.
"This Court is unlikely to grant review because this case's interlocutory posture renders the resolution of any Second Amendment question premature," James' petition to the U.S. Supreme Court read. "This Court's ordinary practice is to deny interlocutory review even when a case presents a significant statutory or constitutional question."
New York's new law created new conditions for people seeking concealed carry permits, including background checks for private firearm sales and bans on guns in "sensitive locations" such as parks, hospitals, and mass transit hubs. It also requires license applicants to exhibit a "good moral character" and provide officials with a list of social media accounts for inspection.Another group of firearms dealers joined the firearm owner, requesting the Supreme Court to rule against New York's latest crackdown on Second Amendment rights.
"The Second Amendment is the new civil right kid on the block," Paloma Capanna, a lawyer representing the firearm dealers, wrote in their application. "The Second Amendment is the modern civil rights movement. An attack on any one civil right and through such unacceptable methods must be called out, if all are to endure — no matter one's own 'political preferences' or 'whether society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable.'"
The justices are not considering the case's merits, only whether to lift the appeals court order pending appeal.
James said the district court's opinion was "riddled with errors" and encouraged justices to stay out, noting the appeals courts had expedited consideration of the new law and that "further percolation of the relevant issues in the lower court is needed to inform" the high court's review.
The firearms owners are now asking Justice Sonia Sotomayor to block laws directed at firearms and ammunition distributors and are also requesting blocks on regulations such as concealed-carry permit training, new semiautomatic rifle licenses and new ammunition background checks.
"Hochul ordered by 'Proclamation' the legislature return for extraordinary session, and pushed them, literally into the dark of night, to pass NY S.51001, so that she could, in the light of the next day, perform for the media," Capanna wrote.
Capanna said Hochul attacked the Supreme Court's authority and asserted "legal superiority as state governor over the authority of this federal Court, and vowing revenge for this Court's decisions of June 23, 2022, in NYSRPA v. Bruen."
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