{"id":84857,"date":"2022-08-25T13:40:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T18:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=84857"},"modified":"2022-08-25T13:40:30","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T18:40:30","slug":"84857","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/?p=84857","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

Gun law grounded in bigotry reveals its roots<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s telling when your best argument for a new law is to cite discredited laws of the past as part of your rationale.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s just what New York State has resorted to in trying to convince a judge that its plethora of new restrictions making a permit to carry a handgun virtually useless should pass muster.<\/p>\n

As the clock ticks down to the Sept. 1 implementation date, the misnamed Concealed Carry Improvement Act will do nothing more than create a new class of law-abiding criminals. And if that phrase sounds oxymoronic, you don\u2019t know New York State \u2013 where the second half of that word is often the most operative.<\/p>\n

Instead of targeting criminals, the new statute targets law-abiding pistol permit holders, many of whom will become felons simply by ignoring a law that will accomplish nothing except to put their lives at risk and put them in handcuffs.<\/p>\n

The fact that in defending the law from a legal challenge, the state\u2019s filing contains a footnote practically disavowing its own arguments tells you all you need to know. But that\u2019s what happens when you try to defend the indefensible restrictions pushed through by Gov. Kathy Hochul and a compliant Democratic Legislature.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The footnote tries to distance the state from its own argument invoking the racist laws implemented by the colonists to keep guns away from Native Americans. State lawyers, as first noted on the website thereload.com, also cite the English Bill of Rights, which \u201cestablished a right of the people to arm themselves,\u201d while acknowledging that this right \u201cwas only given to Protestants, based on a continued belief that Catholics were likely to engage in conduct that would harm themselves or others and upset the peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

These bigoted precedents were cited to make the claim that the new law\u2019s ambiguous \u201cgood moral character\u201d requirement, as determined by bureaucrats, \u201cis consistent with the long history in both England and America of disarming those whose associations, reputation, or conduct suggested they posed a danger to others or to the public order.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the next breath \u2013 albeit a shorter one, since it\u2019s buried in the footnotes \u2013 the state sheepishly admits that its own examples \u201care based on racial or religious animus that is repugnant to a modern understanding of the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s no more repugnant to the Constitution than the state\u2019s blatant attempt to thumb its nose at the U.S. Supreme Court decision two months ago striking down New York\u2019s requirement that a law-abiding citizen demonstrate \u201cproper cause\u201d to carry a handgun outside the home.<\/p>\n

In response to the high court, Hochul and her legislative minions came up with the CCIA, which substitutes the moral character clause while also mandating a check of applicants\u2019 social media accounts to make sure they live up to the state\u2019s definition \u2013 whatever that might be \u2013 before exercising a constitutional right.<\/p>\n

In their federal court suit seeking to block the new law, the plaintiffs \u2013 including Gun Owners of America and one of its members, Schenectady County resident Ivan Antonyuk \u2013 note the dangers of giving bureaucrats such sweeping discretion to judge law-abiding applicants\u2019 fitness to protect themselves. For example, they point out, the vague standard \u201cbegs the question whether someone who attends a (Black Lives Matter) \u2018parade\u2019 or \u2018rally\u2019 that turns violent could be denied a permit.\u201d On the other end of the political spectrum, \u201cHow about those who believe that the 2020 election was \u2018stolen,\u2019 or who publicly advocate against Covid-19 vaccination?\u201d<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t take much imagination to see where this could lead. And we haven\u2019t even gotten to the law\u2019s prohibitions on carrying a concealed firearm in a \u201csensitive location.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what, you may ask, is a sensitive location? This column would have to be a series in order to list them all, but for starters they include \u201cany place owned or under the control of federal, state or local government \u2026 any place of worship or religious observation \u2026 libraries, public playgrounds, public parks, and zoos \u2026 any place, conveyance, or vehicle used for public transportation or public transit, subway cars, train cars, buses, ferries, railroad, omnibus, marine or aviation transportation \u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

You get the idea. Every public place in New York State would be a \u201csensitive location,\u201d despite the Supreme Court\u2019s clear warning that any new law could not impose such blanket bans.<\/p>\n

And if banning law-abiding citizens from protecting themselves in public isn\u2019t enough, the law also would ban permit holders from carrying their guns on private property without express permission from property owners.<\/p>\n

As the lawsuit notes, this will make practically all businesses and other private property off limits \u201cby default.\u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line: Law-abiding New Yorkers, who have passed police background checks and undergone extensive training in order to obtain a concealed-carry permit to protect themselves and their loved ones, will be barred from doing so in just about any public or private place.<\/p>\n

The only people who won\u2019t be barred? Criminals who, by definition, won\u2019t obey the law.<\/p>\n

As any self-defense expert will tell you, you are your own first responder because the most police typically do is catch your assailant after the fact.<\/p>\n

Now Hochul and the Legislature\u2019s Democratic majority want to prevent you from protecting yourself.<\/p>\n

In addition to its overreach and use of bigotry as a justification, the state has thrown all sorts of other stuff against the wall \u2013 the State Police superintendent is the wrong defendant, the plaintiffs have suffered no harm yet, the law is content-neutral when it comes to social media, etc. \u2013 in the hope that something will stick.<\/p>\n

After hearing more arguments on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby is expected to rule before the law is scheduled to take effect next week.<\/p>\n

It should be an easy call \u2013 and voters should remember why a judge had to make it: Because their governor and legislators turned their backs on law-abiding citizens who want nothing more than the chance to protect themselves from criminals their politicians can\u2019t stop.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gun law grounded in bigotry reveals its roots It\u2019s telling when your best argument for a new law is to cite discredited laws of the past as part of your rationale. But that\u2019s just what New York State has resorted to in trying to convince a judge that its plethora of new restrictions making a … Continue reading “”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,50,8,29,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-84857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-o-the-day","category-goobermint","category-rkba","category-safety","category-scratch-a-lib-find-a-tyrant"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=84857"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84858,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84857\/revisions\/84858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=84857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=84857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/milesfortis.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=84857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}