Syracuse, N.Y. – A federal judge in Syracuse, who has already declared that he believes New York’s latest gun control law is unconstitutional, may now get the chance to overturn it.
U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby last month rejected a lawsuit seeking to overturn the state law, saying he didn’t have the power to strike down the state’s latest gun-control measure because, among other things, it hadn’t gone into effect yet.
But he did make it clear that the state’s law – including a “good moral character” requirement, a mandate to disclose social-media accounts and an expansive list of banned locations – was problematic.
“What law-abiding, responsible citizens of New York State are left with is a statute that is...plagued by a ‘profound Second Amendment problem,’” Suddaby wrote in his Aug. 31 decision.
On Thursday, Suddaby got another request to strike down the law from the same gun group that spearheaded the earlier case. The plaintiffs argue that the judge now has the power to rule the law violates the Second Amendment.
They are seeking a preliminary injunction to temporarily halt the new state law. From various court motions, it appears the judge may be prepared to move quickly on that request.
The latest lawsuit adds some additional details about specific individuals challenging the new law, including:
- An Onondaga County man who intends to keep carrying his licensed handgun while fishing in state parks, a place now off-limits for guns under the law.
- An Albany County man who intends to continue carrying his licensed handgun to movie theaters, in restaurants that serve alcohol, and other places now banned under the law.
- An Oswego County pastor who intends to keep carrying his handgun in his church, another banned location under the new law.
- A Greene County firefighter who intends to continue carrying his gun to emergency calls, likely placing him in locations in which guns are now banned.
- A Schenectady County man who feels the law unconstitutionally restricts his right to bear arms, but has decided to not take any actions in violation of the law.
The latest court challenge comes weeks after New York’s sweeping gun-control law took effect, tightening licensing requirements, requiring the disclosure of social-media accounts and banning guns almost everywhere, including a default ban on all private property.
The state’s new law came in response to a U.S. Supreme Court decision in June that struck a century-old state law requiring an individual to provide a specific reason why he or she needed a gun. That violated the Second Amendment, which gives every law-abiding citizen the right to possess a gun for protection, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.
But that decision only impacted one part of the application process for obtaining a gun. States can still restrict guns using certain objective standards: a criminal background check, character references and a ban in sensitive places, like schools, for example, the Supreme Court confirmed.
The state legislature’s response was to craft the most restrictive gun-control law in the country – albeit removing the need to provide a specific reason for wanting a gun. That left gun-owners arguing that the state has overstepped its bounds.
The new law’s implementation Sept. 1 set off a flurry of lawsuits involving aggrieved gun owners from New York City to Buffalo.
RELATED: NY’s new law returns fire at Supreme Court: Guns are now banned almost everywhere
It remains unclear which of the challenges will be decided first, leaving the fate of the law in the hands of at least four different federal judges who each have different cases before them.
But Suddaby, a longtime Syracuse-area lawyer and judge, may end up being the one who decides first. After all, he’s already tipped his hand, calling the law “unconstitutional” in his opinion last month.
Suddaby’s prior decision has no influence on what other judges might think. But he certainly could flush that out into a decision, so long as the problems with the earlier lawsuit have been corrected this time around.
Those problems included the fact that the law hadn’t gone into effect so nobody had been harmed yet. But he spent about 20 pages of that decision explaining why he felt the law was unconstitutional.
RELATED: Federal judge allows NY gun law to go into effect Thursday, but warns it may be unconstitutional
In addition to the lawsuit before Suddaby there are several others:
- A July 11 lawsuit filed by a Brooklyn civil rights lawyer challenged the requirement for gun applicants to turn over social-media accounts as violation of First Amendment rights.
- Another July 11 lawsuit, filed by Western New York politician Carl Paladino, challenged the presumptive gun ban on private property. (That lawsuit has stalled, without any action in months.)
- An Aug. 31 lawsuit, filed by two Albany-area residents and a gun group, sought to overturn both the licensing and property-ban restrictions. The plaintiffs are the same as the lawsuit that eventually led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision striking down the state’s prior licensing requirement.
- A Sept. 13 lawsuit, filed by two Western New York residents and a different gun group, also seeks to overturn both the licensing and property-ban restrictions.
With so many challenges, it remains to be seen how – and when – a judge either strikes down or gives blessing to the law.
Judges in each case will likely be asked to make a quick judgment on the case – either ordering the law be suspended or leaving it in place – as each of the challenges moves forward. It’ll be a race to see which lawsuit can clear all the legal hurdles needed to get a judge’s opinion first.
Even if the law is struck down by a judge, that won’t be the final word. Expect an appeal from the losing party as soon as a judge rules.
Eventually, the case will land before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, which hears cases from anywhere in New York State, and regardless of what happens there, the U.S. Supreme Court will have a chance to review the law – even if that’s years down the road.
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Staff writer Douglass Dowty can be reached at ddowty@syracuse.com or (315) 470-6070.