The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a challenge by a group of New York firearms dealers to numerous Democratic-backed measures taken by the state last year regulating gun purchases that the companies say hurt their business.
The judges, without public dissent, denied a request by the retailers to block the laws, some of which imposed gun safety requirements on retailers, as they continue their appeal of a lower court decision in New York’s favor.
The Democratic-led state legislature passed some of the laws last June. Others were adopted in July after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s limits on carrying concealed firearms outside the home the previous month in a landmark ruling expanding gun rights.
New York officials have said the new gun restrictions, which face numerous legal challenges in lower courts, are necessary to protect public safety. The Supreme Court has expanded gun rights in three key rulings since 2008.
On January 11, judges rejected a separate offer by members of a gun rights advocacy group to block much of New York’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act, signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul on January 1. July.
In a statement issued with that decision, Justice Samuel Alito, joined by fellow Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, said they understood the court’s action in that case to be procedural rather than expressing any views on the merits of the case. Alito wrote that the New York law in question “raises novel and serious issues” under the US Constitution’s provisions on the right to bear arms and free speech.
That law banned firearms in a long list of “sensitive locations” including churches, doctors’ offices, theaters, public parks and Manhattan’s popular Times Square. It was passed in response to the June 23 Supreme Court decision declaring for the first time that the Second Amendment to the Constitution protects an individual’s right to carry a weapon in public for self-defense.
The June ruling also required courts to assess whether gun restrictions were “consistent with the nation’s storied tradition of firearms regulation,” making it difficult to regulate guns in a country where mass shootings are common.
Nine people who sell firearms in upstate New York and a gun collectors’ association are suing state officials in federal court to challenge a series of laws regulating the purchases.
Some of the laws affect retailers, such as requiring security alarms and sales record keeping. Others affect individuals, such as requiring background checks for ammunition sales and training for a concealed carry license.
A federal judge has refused to block any of the challenged laws on several grounds, including the fact that the Second Amendment protects people, not businesses. In December, the Manhattan-based United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also denied the plaintiffs, but ordered their appeal to be expedited.
