By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
A federal appeals court has struck down a New York state law requiring private property owners to post signs allowing concealed carry on property open to the public as part of a massive decision dealing with several separate challenges of the Empire State’s post-Bruen gun control legislation.
The three-judge panel issued a combined ruling stretching more than 260 pages on affecting four cases, two of which involved the Second Amendment Foundation. They are known as Hardaway v. Chiumento and Christian v. Chiumento.
According to The Hill, “New York Democrats passed the law after the Supreme Court last year invalidated the state’s concealed carry licensing regime. The decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen marked the biggest expansion of Second Amendment rights in a decade, with the conservative majority ruling that gun control laws must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The full ruling may be read here.
SAF’s Christian case challenged a requirement that owners of private property open to the public must put up signs allowing concealed carry. Under the law, such property was considered off limits by default. The court noted that the regulated conduct—carrying a firearm for personal protection on private property—“falls within the Second Amendment right to carry.” Thus, the requirement to post signs was struck down. The restriction carried with it a criminal penalty of up to four years imprisonment and was graded as a Class E felony – which would strip the individual of their right to keep and bear arms in perpetuity, noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut in an email.
The Hardaway case challenged a different tenet of the law prohibiting carry in places of worship. This complaint became moot when the legislature changed the law after SAF sued to allow people such as plaintiff Jimmie Hardaway to carry in his church. In both cases, SAF was joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition.
An equally significant win for gun rights involved a different case in which SAF was not involved. The court struck down a requirement to allow government access to private social media accounts in order to apply for a carry license. The court ruled this requirement unconstitutional.
“Our challenges were narrowly constructed, allowing us to win a small but significant victory in the Christian case,” Kraut noted in a prepared statement. “Because the legislature changed the law after our lawsuit was filed in the Hardaway case, we consider that a victory as well.”
The Second Circuit panel consisted of Judges Dennis Jacobs, a George H.W. Bush appointee; Gerard Lynch, an Obama appointee; and Eunice Lee, a Biden appointee, according to The Hill.
This is not likely to be the last word in these proceedings, although SAF’s issues appear to have been addressed. SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb expects one of the other plaintiffs in the combined cases will appeal because the ruling upheld other provisions of the New York law.
In SAF’s case, however, Gottlieb observed, “These are just two more examples of SAF carrying out its mission to win firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time.”
Democrat New York Attorney General Letitia James issued a statement cheering the parts of the ruling upholding other tenets of the law.
“Today’s decision to permit the state to enforce critical provisions of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act as the court process moves forward will help keep New Yorkers safe,” she insisted.
She called the law “commonsense” and claimed it will keep guns out of the wrong hands.
