Source: http://burneylawfirm.com/blog/2010/12/23/is-new-york-citys-gun-law-unconstitutional/
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 14:41:01+00:00

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At the end of the ’08 term, the Supremes issued their decision in D.C. v. Heller, unambiguously recognizing that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. The D.C. ordinances at issue were analogous to those of N.Y. and N.Y.C. The Supremes said these rules violated the Second Amendment, and rejected the policy arguments that one could justify such a ban because of the dangers associated with handguns.
At the end of the ’10 term, the Supremes issued their decision in McDonald v. Chicago, holding that the Due Process and Privileges & Immunities clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment require the application of the Heller rule to the states. The Chicago and Oak Park laws at issue said pretty much what the N.Y. and N.Y.C. laws do (actually, N.Y.C.’s restrictions are more, uh, restrictive). The Supremes expressly rejected claims that governments ought to be able to enact whatever restrictions they deem to be reasonable. They further rejected outright the idea that the scope of the Second Amendment right should be determined by judicial interest-balancing.
On top of that, the McDonald decision stated flat-out that the Second Amendment right is a fundamental individual right. This is important for what comes later.
Also, just last month, the D.C. Court of Appeals issued a pertinent decision in Herrington v. U.S., which applied the Heller and McDonald rule to D.C.’s ban on the possession of ammunition, which in pertinent part is indistinguishable from N.Y.C.’s ban. That statute was also unconstitutional, preventing the exercise of Second Amendment rights.
In their rulings, the Supremes did acknowledge that the Second Amendment right isn’t so unrestricted as to permit any person to carry any kind of weapon for any reason. But it does encompass a right to keep ordinary weapons in the home for use in self-defense, at the very least.
Given all that, New York’s law has things exactly backwards. Instead of gun possession being presumptively lawful, it is presumptively a crime punishable by a year in jail. You can’t make a fundamental right presumptively unlawful, and only then carve out exceptions where it’s okay. You can only carve out exceptions for the rare occasion when exercising that right would be unlawful.
So the presumptive ban is unconstitutional. The requirement that even a duly licensed handgun be rendered inoperable is equally unconstitutional, as it undermines the very right being protected. The Heller decision affirmed, among other things, the Parker case which struck down a similar law. Making it impossible to use your gun for the lawful purpose of self defense — that sort of defeats the purpose.
New York’s licensing burden is also unconstitutional, for a lot of reasons. The fees, especially here in town, are the highest in the nation. It costs something like $440 just to apply here in N.Y.C., and there’s no reason to expect your application would even be granted. The purpose and effect of these fees is to dissuade people from applying in the first place. It’s like the poll taxes of a bygone era, which just like gun control laws originated in the racist attempts to limit the freedoms of African-American citizens after the Civil War. (Oh yeah, we found a long line of cases saying just that, going back to 1872.) The fees’ purpose and effect is an unconstitutional ban on the right to bear arms.
The byzantine procedures one must follow in order to get a license are just another burden on the right. That, and the bureaucracy’s absolute discretion to grant, deny or revoke a license, are even more of an unconstitutional infringement of the right.
All of this might still conceivably pass constitutional muster, perhaps with some changes here and there, if not for one thing: Strict scrutiny.
This is where that “fundamental individual right” thing comes into play. When the government infringes on a fundamental individual right — one that is objectively and deeply rooted in the nation’s history and tradition, and implicit in the concept of ordered liberty — their actions have to withstand strict scrutiny.
Strict scrutiny means you look, not at the letter of the law alone, but also at its real-world effect. A law that restricts the exercise of a fundamental right can only survive if there is some compelling state interest, if the law is necessary to achieve it, and if the law is narrowly-tailored to be the least-intrusive means of achieving it. Fail any of this, and the law is void.
We can all agree that public safety is a compelling state interest. But New York law is by no stretch of the imagination narrowly tailored to be the least-intrusive means of furthering that interest. And the laws which prevent law-abiding citizens from exercising the right just as much (if not more so) than lawless types aren’t exactly necessary.
The real-world effect of the laws is an indiscriminate ban on the lawful and safe possession of guns by honest citizens. The obstacles and rules do not have any rational justification other than the simple minimization of public ownership of handguns.
A constitutional statutory scheme would presume the lawfulness of gun ownership, would make licensing presumptive and without undue burdens, would not have a purely discretionary standard for licensing, and would only carve out exceptions for those particular individuals whom the state can rationally believe to be a real threat to public safety should the possess a weapon.
New York’s got it backwards.
So yes, the laws here are unconstitutional.
This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 1:51 pm and is filed under Policy, Second Amendment.	You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
1. I should not need to list my employers/jobs or have them contacted, what the hell does that have to do with my 2A RIGHT to defend myself with a pistol.
2. 4 Character references?, so 4 ordinary Joe’s/Jane’s determine whether I’m allowed a constitutional right ?
3. Medications, so If I take narcotic PRESCRIBED medication for chronic back pain, this should determine my right to own a pistol ?
4. 6-12 month wait ? WTF ?
5. An “Arrest” is a $25 dollar ticked for drinking a beer in public ? This needs to be listed ?
6. Drive the equivalent of 100 miles every time I buy a new pistol ?
For those following this case, the People’s papers were submitted in February, we filed a reply a few days later, and the judge put it off till May for a decision. In the meantime, the NY Attorney General announced that they would not be taking a position one way or the other in the case.
Due to courthouse bureaucracy, the judge didn’t have a decision yet, and put it over till June 13 for a decision.
This is an interesting post. Thanks for writing and standing up for our sovereign rights. This, unfortunately, is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to infringing on our constitutional rights.
The City of New York thinks anyone that isn’t a government official is a threat to public safety.
Not to mention , the rights of men don’t come from the Constitution.
I have been trying to convince Shooters’ Committee On Political Education to go after the unconstitutional licensing laws using Shuttlesworth v. Birmingham, whith their quote from Staub v. Baxley, stating that permits for rights are “unconstitutional censorships, or prior restraints.” The quote went on to state that anyone “faced with such an unconstitutional licensing law may ignore it & engage with impunity in the (right) for which the law required a license (permit).
Further, Walker v. Birmingham stated that one need not take their case to the Supreme Court to have their right reinstated, charges dropped, etc. To do so applies an undo burden on the individual, and the individual should be due some recompense. I think the best tack here is to sue NYS/NYC for denial of right all these years in a class action suit demanding trillions of dollars in damages, lost work, loss of right, possible deaths due to an inability to protect ones person, etc.
Further, you are correct in regards the poll tax. Murdock v/ PA states that paying a fee for a right is unconstitutional.
Oh, btw, SCOPE website is http://www.scopeny.org. Would like to see more people joining our ranks, contributing to our PAC, and Legal Fund, so as to bolster our numbers when we talk to legislators.
Further, there is a Sportsman’s Day in Albany at the well of the Legislative Office Building on March 20, 2012 starting at 9 AM, and running until 1 PM, or a little later depending on the speakers. Anyone with a desire to see our 2A restored in NYS should be sure to come.
It would be so awesome if this about the Gun Law Unconstitutional. .
The most frustrating topic of the USA. We must honor the Constitution and bring down those that don’t.

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