NYC rules restricting gun licensing are unconstitutional, judge says
A federal judge has ruled New York City erred in 2019 when it denied a Brooklyn man a gun license based on his history of traffic tickets and license suspensions, saying the city has been allowed too much discretion to deny gun permits to people deemed “not of good moral character.”
Judge John P. Cronan of the Southern District federal court in Manhattan wrote Tuesday the “magnitude of discretion” afforded city gun licensing officials violated the U.S. Constitution's 2nd and 14th amendments.
The ruling is the latest following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in the so-called Bruen case, which declared New York’s concealed-weapons statute unconstitutionally vague and found broad rights for carrying concealed weapons.
The regulations Cronan found to be unconstitutional have since been amended, and the judge said he was not yet ruling on the wording of the new provisions. Cronan, appointed in 2017 by then-President Donald Trump, issued a stay with his ruling, allowing the city time to appeal.
New York adopted a new statute in summer 2022 that sought to more clearly define requirements for a license, among other things.
The subject of Tuesday's ruling was a lawsuit filed in early 2022 by Joseph Srour after the city denied him a permit to possess guns in his home.
Officials based this on his 24 driver's license suspensions, six driver's license revocations, 28 traffic violations, a prior arrest and two violations of navigational law involving personal watercraft, according to court documents.
In a notice of rejection, the city told Srour: “The circumstances surrounding your actions exhibited in your past question your ability to abide by the rules and regulations to possess a rifle/shotgun permit” and added they “reflect negatively on your moral character and cast grave doubt upon your fitness to possess a firearm.”
But the judge said the case was “not about the ability of a state or municipality to impose appropriate and constitutionally valid regulations governing the issuance of firearm licenses and permits."
“Rather,” he said, “the provisions fail to pass constitutional muster because of the magnitude of discretion afforded to city officials in denying an individual their constitutional right to keep and bear firearms."
He added: “Without doubt, the very notions of ‘good moral character’ and ‘good cause’ are inherently exceedingly broad and discretionary. Someone may be deemed to have good moral character by one person, yet a very morally flawed character by another.”
Amy Bellantoni, Srour's attorney, told The Associated Press that Cronan's decision resulted from “rock solid constitutional analysis.”
New York’s new concealed-weapons statute, adopted in 2022, is being challenged in more than 10 ongoing lawsuits.
The cases are at various stages in the legal process, but a series of stays issued by courts has insured the law is still in place for the time being.
With Associated Press
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