SAF, FPC Launch Lawsuits Against New York, Hawaii Infringements on 2A Rights

New York's ban on non-resident carry and the state of Hawaii's prohibition on gun ownership for young adults are facing new legal challenges thanks to the Firearms Policy Coalition, the Second Amendment Foundation, and several gun owners who are suing over the infringements to their right to keep and bear arms.

FPC and four Pennsylvia residents have filed suit in federal court in New York, arguing that the state's licensing scheme deprives them of their Second Amendment rights when they cross the border into the Empire State. New York doesn't recognize any out-of-state concealed carry licenses, and only allows non-residents to apply for a New York permit if their principal place of employment is located inside the state's borders. As FPC and the individual plaintiffs argue, such a policy squarely infringes on the right to keep and bear arms.

This Ban is unconstitutional. Citizens do not lose protection of their rights under the First Amendment’s speech or religion clauses when they cross state lines. Nor do they lose their protections under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. Likewise, they do not surrender their Second Amendment protected rights when they travel outside their home state. Cf. Bruen, 597 U.S.at 24 (the Bruen standard “accords with how we protect other constitutional rights”), id. at70 (observing “[w]e know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need”, contrasting New York State’s restrictions with operation of the First Amendment and Sixth Amendment).

In the years since Bruen was handed down by the Supreme Court, states like New York and Hawaii have continued to flagrantly infringe on our right to keep and bear arms.

That Hawaii Supreme Court Opinion was about the most ridiculous I’ve ever read.

In other 2nd Amendment news:

“Sponsor of Anti-2A Ordinance Admits It’s In ‘Direct Violation of State Law’”

https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2024/11/21/sponsor-of-anti-2a-ordinance-admits-its-in-direct-violation-of-state-law-n1226960

Excerpt:

“Back in September, city councilors in Montgomery, Alabama adopted a local ordinance requiring gun owners to have a valid ID on them when carrying. Now the council is debating repealing the recently adopted measure after Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall warned officials that the ordinance violates the state’s firearm preemption law.

The topic came up at the most recent city council meeting in Montgomery, where one of the ordinance’s original backers acknowledging that the measure is unenforceable.

Councilman Glenn Pruitt, who originally sponsored the ordinance, admitted this in the meeting, saying, “we wrote something that is in direct violation of state law,” and added that the ordinance “is not worth what it’s written on.”

However, south Montgomery resident Angela Exford came forward to speak in favor of the ordinance, saying she is “100%” in favor of it being enforced.

Exford described a recent night when her neighborhood became “a war zone” with “rapid gunfire from 8:00 until after midnight.””

Apparently, the law is not working if Ms. Exford recently experienced “rapid gunfire from 8:00 until after midnight”. Or maybe it is just being selectively enforced. However, I suspect none of those causing that gunfire were carrying their CCW permits simply because none had applied for nor been issued such a permit.

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