New York state asks court to keep gun law in place during appeal

New York state officials on Monday asked a federal appeals court to keep intact a state gun law while the officials appeal a judge’s finding that key provisions of the statute violate the Second Amendment.

The filing by New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) had been expected since last week, when a federal judge temporarily blocked key parts of a New York law that put in place new gun permitting requirements and sought to ban firearms from certain sensitive locations, like Times Square.

“The serious risk of irreparable harm to public safety and the possibility of regulatory chaos necessitates an immediate appeal,” James told the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. “As the data confirm, more guns carried in more places by more people result in more crime, violence, and homicide.”

The move comes after U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby last Thursday temporarily blocked key parts of New York’s law, known as the Concealed Carry Improvement Act.

In his 53-page ruling, Suddaby said some of the law’s heightened licensing requirements and location-specific bans — including a prohibition of guns in Times Square, public transportation and stadiums — went too far.

But the judge delayed his decision from taking effect for three business days to give New York officials an opportunity to seek emergency relief from the 2nd Circuit.

The dispute arose after the group Gun Owners of America brought a legal challenge against the New York gun law, which was enacted this summer in the wake of a landmark Supreme Court decision that interpreted the Second Amendment as broadly protecting the right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense.

At the same time, the 6-3 Supreme Court ruling said guns could be restricted in certain “sensitive locations,” but left that term largely undefined.

In response, New York passed a law in July criminalizing the concealed carry of guns in airports, houses of worship, Times Square and other sensitive places, as well as imposing new licensing requirements, prompting the legal challenge.

In his ruling last week, Suddaby, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, said New York officials had justified only some of those new limits on constitutional grounds, while failing to adequately defend others.

Specifically, the judge ruled that New York officials failed to legally justify gun restrictions in places of public transportation, Times Square and entertainment venues such as theaters, stadiums, concerts and bars. He also determined that some licensing requirements created by the new law, including a requirement that gun applicants disclose their social media activity, were unconstitutional.

But Suddaby let stand provisions restricting guns from property that is owned or temporarily restricted by the government; polling places; houses of worship, with some exceptions; schools; and public assemblies.

The attorney general’s office is expected to formally appeal Suddaby’s ruling soon.

Updated at 12:53 p.m.