On Wednesday, the Supreme Court rejected a bid from a group of New York firearms dealers who had asked the high court to block sections of recently passed state gun laws that they contend violate their Second Amendment rights and adversely affect their businesses.
It was a 9-0 ruling, and the justices gave no explanation for their decision.
"It has surprised and disappointed me that there hasn't been a judge willing to really jump into the middle of an unprecedented fight," responds Paloma Capanna, lead attorney for the New York gun retailers. "This is the first time in U.S. history that a governor has declared war on gun shops that are licensed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), that are licensed by the state of New York."
Fox News reports that this decision was reached one week after the high court rejected a separate bid by gun rights activists to block the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which was implemented last year by New York's Democrat-controlled legislature after the Supreme Court struck down the state's prior concealed carry law in June 2022 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in that opinion for the court that "the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual's right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home."
Meanwhile, there are numerous cases challenging the New York gun statutes, as Capanna warns that the new record-keeping laws could amount to an unconstitutional gun registry.
"The laws are really designed to put federally licensed firearms dealers out of business in the state of New York," Capanna explains. "It really speaks to how bad these laws are that you have 80 different plaintiffs … represented by 17 law firms going after just some of these statutes."
Following this latest development, attorneys are continuing to work to get a stay so that gun store owners across the state of New York do not end up getting arrested based upon laws that are unconstitutional.
