<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1655757923233,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-7763-d473-a96f-77eb53420000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1655757923233,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"0000016c-7763-d473-a96f-77eb53420000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_55753902", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1036819"} }); rn","_id":"00000181-82dc-d789-a3f7-9bfedd460000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedA forthcoming Supreme Court ruling over New York’s long-standing restrictive concealed carry gun law could prompt future debates over which areas lawmakers may attempt to deem “sensitive” gun-free zones, legal experts say.
When the high court heard oral arguments in November over New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, six Republican-appointed justices appeared skeptical of New York’s law requiring residents to demonstrate a “proper cause” for obtaining a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver.
While many law experts believe the conservative majority on the court is poised to rule against New York’s law, South Texas College of Law Professor Josh Blackman told the Washington Examiner that Democratic state legislators could respond by making it “impossible” to carry firearms in specific sensitive locations throughout New York City.
SUPREME COURT DECISION ON GUN PERMIT LAW COULD LEAD TO MORE CASES
“They’ll designate basically every single place in New York City as a sensitive place … no subway, no buildings, nowhere to go. We won’t be able to carry within 100 feet of a school, which is virtually everywhere, right? They’re gonna make it virtually impossible,” Blackman said earlier this month.
The looming decision over New York’s restrictive concealed carry regime could affect eight other states with similar laws, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. It also comes at a time when the United States is grappling with further incidents of traumatic gun violence that have prompted federal lawmakers to consider limited gun control measures.
Paul Clement, a former solicitor general in President George W. Bush’s administration who argued the New York case on behalf of two plaintiffs who were denied a concealed carry license, described the difference between a “sensitive place law” and the state’s concealed carry law as “fundamental.”
“It is the difference between regulating a constitutionally protected activity and attempting to convert a fundamental constitutional right into a privilege that can only be enjoyed by those who can demonstrate to the satisfaction of a government official that they have an atypical need for the exercise right,” Clement told the justices in November.
Clement also said he was “reluctant” to accept the concept that government-provided security alone should be the benchmark to justify prohibiting guns in specific locations, laying out a hypothetical scenario in which cities may try to outlaw firearms in certain neighborhoods by saying they are covered by sufficient police forces.
“If you went that direction, then the state would say: ‘Well, you know, this part of the city, we have a lot of police officers, and so, you really don’t need to exercise your own individual self-defense right there because … we have your back,'” Clement claimed during oral arguments.
“Whether the decision leaves an opening for New York to enact a revised ‘proper cause’ standard or some different law would depend on how the decision is written,” Clement said, adding that if the court rules against the New York law, “the burden will likely be on the state to pass a new law that the state believes is consistent with the court’s decision.”
Following the May 24 mass shooting by a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, that killed 19 children and two teachers, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) vowed to hold a special legislative session to pass gun control measures if the Supreme Court overturns the state’s concealed carry law.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Hochul’s promise was also prompted by the May 14 shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, where a gunman armed with an AR-15-style rifle killed 10 people.
A decision in the New York permit law case is expected sometime between now and the end of the present Supreme Court session, which ends in late June.
