Law gives Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas ‘the middle finger,’ group says
Gun Owners of America (GOA) is suing New York state over new restrictions on the public carrying of firearms that were rushed through the state Legislature and signed into law after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state’s requirement that a carry permit applicant must demonstrate a special need for self-defense.
The lawsuit takes aim specifically at the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA), which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed into law earlier this month. It takes effect September 1.
At the time Hochul savaged the court for issuing what she called “a reckless decision removing century-old limitations on who is allowed to carry concealed weapons in our state—senselessly sending us backward and putting the safety of our residents in jeopardy.”
The name of the statute itself is ironic because it is “New York’s attempt to flout the Supreme Court’s” June 23 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, according to the legal complaint (pdf) filed July 11 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of New York. The new law puts into effect “several blatantly unconstitutional new infringements of the enumerated right to keep and bear arms,” the complaint states.
The case is Antonyuk v. Bruen, 1:22-CV-734. The plaintiffs are gun owner Ivan Antonyuk, Gun Owners of America Inc., its foundation, and its New York affiliate. Defendant Kevin Bruen is superintendent of the New York State Police.
Sam Paredes is executive director of Gun Owners of California, a member of GOA’s board of directors, and treasurer of its affiliated foundation.
“We are confident that we will pretty much overturn everything they did in this legislative package because they were clearly in violation of the direct ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen,” Paredes told The Epoch Times in an interview.
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