New York legislators' attempts to enact strict gun regulations consistent with a major Supreme Court gun-rights ruling in June went unconstitutionally overboard by deeming too many places as gun-free zones, a federal district judge has ruled. The New York Times reports that Judge Glenn T. Suddaby's 53-page order blocks the state from enforcing several provisions of the law that was passed after New York's even stricter law on carrying concealed weapons in public places was invalidated by the nation's highest court. Suddaby agreed to stay his order for three business days pending an emergency appeal to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which could lengthen the stay or let the ruling take effect.
New York lawmakers had hoped to provide a model for the other five states whose laws also were invalidated by the Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen by expansively defining the "sensitive places" where the right to carry could be restricted. Adam Winkler, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in constitutional law and gun police, said the latest ruling will encourage more legal challenges of various gun regulations. “This opinion is a signal to all the states enacting gun laws that the chances of those laws surviving in court are slim,” Winkler said. “It’s really a signal that courts are prepared to strike down many more gun laws than ever before.” The challenge to New York's new law was brought by members of Gun Owners of America, whose spokesman said the group would consider an immediate appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. In his ruling, Judge Suddaby called the state's imposition of a "good moral character" test "fatally flawed" and the requirement to provide three years' worth of social media posts an overreach.