NEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) – New York lawmakers voted on gun laws on Friday that would ban guns from a long list of “sensitive locations” including Times Square and require people seeking gun permits to pass more training and submit their social media accounts for government review.
The special legislative session began Thursday, a week after a conservative majority on the Supreme Court struck down restrictive gun permit laws in New York and ruled for the first time that the U.S. Constitution gives a person the right to carry a gun in public for self-defense. Read more
Democratic leaders in New York criticized the decision, saying there would be more gun violence if there were more people carrying guns. They have acknowledged that they now need to loosen the state’s century-old permitting scheme, but are seeking to keep as many restrictions as possible in the name of public safety, which could be the target of more legal challenges.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
The court ruled that the legislation lawmakers were changing gave too much discretion to officials to deny a permit.
New York Gov. Cathy Hochul, a Democrat who ordered the legislative emergency session, said the state’s gun licensing regulations have resulted in New York having the fifth-lowest rate of gun deaths of the 50 U.S. the state.
“Our state will continue to protect New Yorkers from harm, even in the face of this setback from the Supreme Court,” she said at a news conference in Albany. “They may think they can change our lives with the stroke of a pen, but we have pens too.”
The court allowed people to be barred from carrying guns in certain “sensitive locations,” but warned lawmakers against applying the label too broadly. The court also made it easier for pro-gun groups to overturn a gun ordinance, ruling that a gun ordinance was likely unconstitutional if it was not similar to regulations from the 18th century, when the second amendment to the constitution was ratified.
In the early hours of Friday, the state government released the text of a bill that included a list of proposed sensitive locations.
Includes government buildings, medical facilities, places of worship, libraries, playgrounds, parks, zoos, schools, colleges, summer camps, addiction treatment centers, homeless shelters, nursing homes, public transportation including the New York City subway, places where alcohol or marijuana is consumed, museums, theaters, stadiums and other places, polling stations and Times Square.
The Senate passed a bill to improve concealed carry 43-20 on a party-line vote Friday afternoon after hours of debate in which Republican lawmakers said the new legislation was too burdensome for people trying to exercise their right to bear arms. The assembly had begun debating the bill, but lawmakers said a vote might not take place before Saturday.
If passed, the law would go into effect on September 1.
“FRAGANT VIOLATION”
The National Rifle Association, the powerful gun-owners’ rights group whose New York affiliate was the successful lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case last week, said the bill is a “flagrant violation” of the court’s ruling and creates more barriers to New Yorkers’ self-defense rights , indicating that it may soon face legal challenges.
“Governor Hochul and her anti-Second Amendment allies in Albany defied the United States Supreme Court with a willfully malicious rewrite of New York’s concealed carry law,” Darin Hoens, New York state director of the NRA, said in a statement.
The court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that New York authorities had too much subjective discretion in deciding which gun license applicants could enjoy what he said was a constitutional right. Applicants are denied a concealed carry permit if they fail to convince an official that they have “good cause” or some special reason to carry a handgun for self-defense. Read more
Reluctantly, and not without protest, Hochul agreed that the state should drop the “good cause” requirements, although the bill still requires licensing officials to find that an applicant is of “good moral character.”
The proposed new licensing rules also require applicants to meet the licensing officer, usually a judge or police officer, for an in-person interview and provide the contact details of certain close family members and any adults they live with.
The bill also makes it a crime to carry a gun on private business premises unless the business posts an affirmative notice that concealed weapons are welcome.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Chris Rees and Daniel Wallis
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Add Comment