“GOA is proud to have played a major role in rebuking her unconstitutional law,”
said Gun Owners of America Senior Vice President Erich Pratt.
Fox News, December 8, 2023
by Chris Pandolfo
Gun rights activists cheered Friday after a federal appeals court struck down parts of New York’s expansive concealed carry law.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit blocked three provisions of New York’s “Concealed Carry Improvement Act” (CCIA), a law Democrats passed last year in response to a Supreme Court ruling that declared the state’s previous concealed carry permitting requirements unconstitutional. In doing so, the appeals court allowed other parts of the law to go into effect.
In a 261-page ruling, the three-judge panel struck down a requirement that gun owners disclose their social media accounts for review when applying for a concealed carry permit. The court also blocked restrictions on carrying firearms on private property that is accessible to the public, as well as a restriction on concealed carry in houses of worship….
Gun rights activists praised the court’s decision but said the judges failed to faithfully apply the Supreme Court’s precedent, arguing the entire law should be thrown out.
“Governor [Kathy] Hochul and her cabal in Albany never seem to get the message, and in turn, GOA is proud to have played a major role in rebuking her unconstitutional law,” Gun Owners of America (GOA) Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said in a statement.
“Nevertheless, this was not a total victory, and we will continue the fight until this entire law is sent to the bowels of history where it belongs,” Pratt added.
The Daily Caller, December 8, 2023
by Katelynn Richardson
In a 261-page ruling Friday, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals struck down portions of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA) requiring social media disclosures and restricting carrying on private property that is open to the public and in places of worship. However, the ruling also rejected a lower court’s decision to block a portion of the law requiring applicants for a concealed carry permit demonstrate “good moral character.”
Aidan Johnston, director of federal affairs for Gun Owners of America, told the Daily Caller News Foundation the ruling is a “mixed bag” as it failed to apply the text, history and tradition test for gun restrictions set out in the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision….
“It’s encouraging that the Court blocked the intrusive social media provisions, but just as intrusive are the processes needed to confirm someone is ‘of good moral character,’ which the Court has inexplicably chosen to uphold,” Sam Paredes said in a statement on behalf of the board of directors for the Gun Owners Foundation.
“Frustratingly, much of this Court’s opinion reads like an insubordinate rebuke of the Supreme Court, which is a disgrace and cannot be allowed to stand. We are weighing action at the nation’s High Court.”
The ruling declined to block a portion of the law denying firearms to individuals who lack “good moral character.”
New York Times, December 8, 2023
by Jonah Bromwich
The ruling on Friday, by a three-judge panel, [kept] in place both the ban on guns in many of the locations outlined by the state and the “good moral character test.”
But the appeals court rejected some parts of the law, barring the state from declaring that guns are presumed to be off limits at places of worship as well as privately owned properties that are typically open to the public like gas stations and grocery stores. Under the court’s ruling, the owners of such properties must proactively signal that guns are banned….
The new law had also required applicants for gun licenses to submit a list of their social media accounts to help officials assess their character and conduct. The appeals court rejected that requirement, finding that it was most likely unconstitutional to interfere with the aliases people use when expressing their views online….
Gun Owners of America, an organization that had backed one of the challenges to the new law, called the ruling frustrating.
“We will continue the fight until this entire law is sent to the bowels of history where it belongs,” Erich Pratt, the organization’s senior vice president, said.
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