New York State's top court turns away first challenge to rewritten concealed weapons law

ALBANY — New York’s top court on Monday rejected the first challenge to the state's concealed-weapons law since it was rewritten.

The Court of Appeals upheld the state’s authority to impose restrictions on a regular civilian’s right to carry a concealed weapon, such as setting a minimum age or prohibiting gun possession by convicted felons.

In doing so, the court rejected a Bronx defendant’s claim that a landmark 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as "Bruen," prevents New York State lawmakers from setting almost any licensing conditions that would limit Second Amendment rights. The new law is being challenged in a number of federal lawsuits, but the case at hand Monday, known as People v. Omar Johnson, is the first to reach New York's top court, an expert said.

The Court of Appeals said the Bruen decision meant states can’t force a concealed-weapons applicant to demonstrate "proper cause" for carrying a weapon but left open a state’s ability to impose some conditions to obtaining a license.

"We hold only that Bruen did not render the state’s entire gun licensing scheme unconstitutional because the 'proper cause' provision is severable" from other aspects of the state law, Judge Caitlin J. Halligan wrote for the court Monday. 

Though all seven Court of Appeals judges agreed with the outcome, three of them signed on to a "concurring" opinion in which they said they rejected Johnson's appeal not because of a constitutional issue but simply because Johnson waived his right to challenge the statute when he accepted a plea bargain deal to receive a lighter sentence. 

"There is simply no reason or need for this court to consider whether defendant had a constitutional right to carry a loaded, unlicensed firearm in his moped, after he knowingly and voluntarily waived the right to appeal that argument in return for a lenient sentence. I would therefore affirm the Appellate Division on the ground that defendant’s appeal waiver forecloses appellate review of his claim," Judge Anthony Cannataro wrote for the three concurring judges.

Vincent Bonventre, a professor at Albany Law School who studies the Court of Appeals, said it was the first case to reach the court since the Bruen decision.

He said whereas some might have thought the Bruen ruling would have severely impacted New York’s ability to limit concealed-weapons licenses, the ruling Monday, combined with more recent Supreme Court decisions, shows that "courts are being very cautious about invalidating gun restrictions."

Johnson was arrested in 2022 when police responded to a domestic violence call, discovered a pistol on his moped, learned he had no license for it and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon, among other things. He had never even applied for a gun license, court records say.

Eventually, he accepted a plea bargain that carried no prison term but merely probation, and he waived his right to appeal. 

The arrest took place after the Bruen decision but before the rewrite of New York's concealed weapons law. 

But Johnson filed an appeal anyway. According to court documents, he "contended that because the charges against him rested 'solely on the basis that he did not obtain a license to carry a firearm,' the indictment could not stand." 

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy