New York Mayor Flouts Federal Court With New Gun Law

New York City is imposing new gun restrictions that appear to be in conflict with last week’s federal court ruling on New York’s latest gun law. Simultaneously, the New York attorney general’s office is stepping in to appeal the decision.Tuesday, Mayor Adams signed legislation that will “enshrine into law that Times Square is a gun free zone,” less than a week after Judge Glen Suddaby, of the federal court in New York’s Northern District, wrote that such a regulation could not stand.In the upstate case, the attorney general, Letitia James, has stepped in to appeal Judge Suddaby’s decision, saying that her office was working to “protect communities as the appeals process moves forward.”“This common-sense gun control legislation is critical in our state’s effort to reduce gun violence,” Ms. James said. “We will continue to fight for the safety of everyday New Yorkers.”The mayor also signed legislation that will require the city’s office of criminal justice to study and issue an annual report on the trafficking of illegal guns into the city.The report, the first of which is to be issued on December 1, will include a review of where the guns come from, if known, where they were seized, and other information on the firearm and how it came to the city.“Our officers work tirelessly to stop the transportation and use of illegal firearms and have recovered nearly 6,000 guns so far this year,” the police commissioner, Keechant Sewell, said. The first of New York City’s new laws is the sort of “sensitive location” regulation that has become the focus of increased legal scrutiny following New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.“Sensitive locations” regulations are a sort of regulation that the Supreme Court endorsed in their ruling, which allows a state to ban firearms in certain areas. New York legislators appear to have interpreted the high court’s decision too liberally.In his decision last week, Judge Suddaby wrote that New York had been overbroad in defining such “sensitive locations,” writing specifically that the state could not designate Times Square as one.The chief of the legal counsel division at the New York City Law Department, Stephen Louis, told reports he was aware of this decision at a press conference in Times Square Tuesday.He said that until the three day waiting period that accompanied Judge Suddaby’s decision was over, the law would remain in effect. Because of the holiday Monday, the waiting period ends Wednesday.He added that the decision from Judge Suddaby is currently being appealed and that “until they make some further decision we will continue to enforce the law.”The president of the New York County Lawyers Association, Vincent Chang, tells the Sun that “there’s no daylight” between the new law and the court’s decision and that “It’ll only remain in effect as long as the appeals court allows it to.”“It would have made more sense to wait and see what the Court of Appeals says,” he says. “I’m sure they’ll handle it quickly but where they’re going to come out is another issue.”New York is not alone in navigating the shifting legal landscape of creating gun free zones. Just across the Hudson, New Jersey is currently working on a new set of similar regulations in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.The new law will likely accompany a flurry of seven other gun regulations passed in July, immediately following the decision. Details on the scope of the “sensitive location” rules are not yet available but could be impacted by the case in New York.

New York Mayor Flouts Federal Court With New Gun Law

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