(The Center Square) — A federal appeals court has upheld a New York law banning firearms in “sensitive” locations including Times Square, the New York City subway system and commuter trains.
The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday sided a lower court judge’s 2023 decision that allowed the law to remain in effect, after rejecting a legal challenge from gun owners who argued the restrictions violate their Second Amendment rights.
In the 50-page decision, the three-judge panel ruled that the challenged provisions of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act are consistent with the nation’s “historical tradition of gun regulations and, thus, does not violate the Second Amendment” right to bear arms. The panel also concluded that the plaintiffs, several New York gun owners, are “unlikely to succeed” on the merits of their legal arguments.
“There is perhaps no public place more quintessentially crowded than Times Square,” the judges wrote. “In short, Times Square is our modern-day, electrified, supersized equivalent of fairs, markets, and town squares of old. We therefore need not stretch the analogy far,’ to conclude that [the law] is entirely consistent with our historical tradition of regulating firearms in quintessentially crowded places.”
A law signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul in July 2022 sought to close “loopholes” in private gun sales by tightening firearm licensing and sales rules to make it harder to purchase a gun. It also defined private properties as “restricted” areas where carrying a gun is illegal.
The changes were approved in response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the N.Y. State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, which struck down a New York law requiring applicants to show “proper cause” to get a permit to carry a firearm.
Critics of the new requirements filed a lawsuit to block the changes, arguing that the update to the concealed carry law was an attempted end run around the Bruen decision. The Supreme Court declined to take up the challenge, but it continued to be litigated in New York federal courts.
Last year, the federal appeals court upheld other provisions of the law, including requirements that concealed carry permit applicants demonstrate good moral character and allowing private property owners to post signs prohibiting guns on their property.
Gun Owners of America, which backed the litigation challenging the law, called the 2nd Circuit court’s ruling a “slap in the face” to New York gun owners and said it conflicts with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Bruen case.
“We will continue the fight against Gov. Hochul and anti-gun legislators in Albany until New Yorkers can finally carry for self-defense without infringement,” GOA’s vice president Erich Pratt in a statement.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, whose office defended the law, praised the ruling and said it affirms that “New Yorkers deserve to feel safe on public transportation and everywhere in our state.”
“Common-sense gun laws save lives, keep guns out of sensitive community spaces, and help address the gun violence crisis,” James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “New York has some of the strongest common-sense gun laws in the nation, and my office will continue to defend them and protect New Yorkers.”
