It seems safe to say that the state of New York isn’t taking its decisive defeat in the Supreme Court particularly well. After the Court slapped down New York’s plainly unconstitutional restrictions on who can fully exercise their Second Amendment rights by carrying a firearm outside the home, Governor Kathy Hochul called a special session of the Democrat-dominated legislature to let lawmakers issue a vindictive, retaliatory legislative primal scream.
The bill that was passed and signed into law yesterday includes new and stunningly intrusive requirements and limits designed to intimidate and discourage any New Yorkers with the temerity to think that they should be treated equally to Americans who live in 43 other states.
From the Washington Post . . .
Applicants will have to show they have “the essential character, temperament and judgment necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself and others.”
As part of that assessment, applicants have to turn over a list of social media accounts they’ve maintained in the past three years. …
The bill approved by lawmakers doesn’t specify whether applicants will be required to provide licensing officers with access to private social media accounts not visible to the general public. …
People applying for a license to carry a handgun will also have to provide four character references, take 16 hours of firearms safety training plus two hours of practice at a range, undergo periodic background checks and turn over contact information for their spouse, domestic partner or any other adults living in their household. …
People also won’t be allowed to carry firearms at a long list of “sensitive places,” including New York City’s tourist-packed Times Square.
That list also includes schools, universities, government buildings, places where people have gathered for public protests, health care facilities, places of worship, libraries, public playgrounds and parks, day care centers, summer camps, addiction and mental health centers, shelters, public transit, bars, theaters, stadiums, museums, polling places and casinos.
New York will also bar people from bringing guns into any business or workplace unless the owners put up signs saying guns are welcome. People who bring guns into places without such signs could be prosecuted on felony charges. …
Those who support the new restrictions say it strikes just the right balance between complying with the Bruen decision and keeping guns out of the hands of criminals. The new law goes into effect September 1. You can read it here.
The NRA-ILA said . . .
The Majority Party initially said they were doing this to “comply” with Bruen, but in closing remarks those pretenses seemed to be dropped (or forgotten) when Senators began revealing their true motives. Sen. Robert Jackson (D-Washington Heights) said they were doing this to “counter” the Supreme Court. These actions almost certainly guarantee that New York will be back in front of the Supreme Court.
Exactly. In fact, what New York’s legislature and the Governor have done is to openly and intentionally defy the Supreme Court’s decision, begging for more legal challenges.
[The] vote shows how little regard New York Democrats have for the rule of law and our institutions. This should come as little surprise, as the state has seen historic crime under a one-party-rule and bail “reform” in combination with anti- policing policies that have ceded control of the streets to criminals. Fortunately, New Yorkers will have a tremendous opportunity in November to replace Gov. Hochul and her cronies.
NY wants to pick a fight…https://t.co/4ykpcqgoE7 pic.twitter.com/HfBdMl9k6A
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) July 2, 2022
The Firearms Policy Coalition promised to oblige the governor . . .
This measure will, among other punitive and prohibitive provisions, broadly expand not only the onerous burdens to acquire government permission slips for the exercise of fundamental rights, but also throttle the locations New Yorkers might actually exercise those rights.
With the stroke of a pen, Hochul has promised The Empire State that she wishes to lock more of its residents in government run cages, with no regard for their personal safety, dignity, or liberty.
FPC refuses to stand idly by while the state of New York threatens peaceable conduct with imprisonment, injury, and death. We see this bill for what it is: a grave injustice upon the people of New York. Restoring New Yorkers’ natural rights is of paramount importance, whether the tyrants in Albany think so or not. The governor and her cadre of anti-rights legislators should have no doubt that FPC will utilize every available instrument to remedy this historic wrong.
Here we go.
