A US federal judge on Thursday temporarily struck down key parts of a new law in New York that governs gun licensing.
Judge Glenn T. Suddaby of the US District Court for the Northern District of New York said the state has “further reduced a first-class constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defence” into a mere “request.” He said that several law provisions had no historical justification, a controversial requirement put forward by the high court last spring.
The law was enacted in the wake of a Supreme Court decision earlier this summer striking down certain protections. Among the provisions of the New York law that the state cannot enforce is one that defines Times Square as a “gun-free zone.” The law is aimed at placing restrictions on carrying a concealed handgun outside the home.
Back then, Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for a 6-3 court, said that a state had to justify regulation by demonstrating that the law is “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
Regarding Times Square, Suddaby cited the Supreme Court decision and said that it “might be argued” that historical statutes banning the carrying of guns in “fairs or markets” are analogous to the current law. But, he said, he had only found two such laws.
“Two statutes do not make a tradition,” he wrote. Critics correctly predicted that the Supreme Court decision—the most comprehensive expansion of gun rights in a decade—would trigger new challenges to gun regulations across the country. three business days.