By Jonathan Allen
NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York lawmakers began voting on Friday on revamped gun laws that would ban guns from a long list of “sensitive places,” including Times Square, after the U.S. Supreme Court said the state’s restrictive gun-license rules were unconstitutional.
The emergency legislative session began on Thursday, a week after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority ruled for the first time that the U.S. Constitution grants an individual right to carry weapons in public for self-defense.
New York’s Democratic leaders have lambasted the ruling, saying there will be more gun violence if there are more people carrying guns, while also conceding they must now loosen the state’s permit scheme, codified over a century ago.
The court also allowed that people could be banned from carrying their weapons in certain “sensitive places,” but warned lawmakers against applying the label too broadly. The court also made it easier for pro-gun groups to have a gun regulation overturned, ruling that a weapons regulation was likely unconstitutional if it was not similar to the sort of regulations around in the 18th century, when the Constitution’s Second Amendment was ratified.
In the early hours of Friday, the state government released the text of a bill https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/2022-07/EXTRAORDINARY_SESSION1-CONCEALED_CARRY_IMPROVEMENT_ACT-BILL.pdf that included a list of proposed sensitive places.
It included government buildings, medical facilities, places of worship, libraries, playgrounds, parks, zoos, schools, colleges, summer camps, addiction-support centers, homeless shelters, nursing homes, public transit including the New York City subway, places where alcohol or marijuana is consumed, museums, theaters, stadiums and other venues, polling places and Times Square.
The court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen that New York officials had too much subjective discretion over which gun-license applicants could enjoy what it said was a constitutional right. Applicants were denied a concealed-carry permit if they could not convince an official they had “proper cause,” or some kind of special reason, for carrying a handgun for self-defense.
Reluctantly and not without protest, Governor Kathy Hochul agreed the state must remove the “proper cause” requirements. However, the proposed new licensing rules would now require applicants to undergo expanded firearms training and to provide social media accounts to government officials for review.
It would also be a felony to carry a gun into private business premises unless the business posted a sign affirmatively saying concealed weapons were welcome.
Republican senators were challenging provisions in the bill on Friday morning, and the Assembly had yet to begin voting.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Chris Reese)
