Second Circuit reinstates CCIA majority despite Supreme Court intervention

CANTON — The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated much of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (CCIA) on Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the court’s earlier decision to uphold the laws.

“Gun safety laws save lives and keep our streets safer. Today’s ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upholds the core principles of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, the common sense measure we signed into law two years ago that is saving lives in New York. This is one of the reasons New York continues to have one of the lowest gun death rates of any state in the nation. Public safety is my top priority, and I will continue to fight gun violence and protect all New Yorkers,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said after the court upheld and reinstated much of the law.

The case in question, Antonyuk v. Nigreli, has been in the works for about two years following the CCIA’s approval following two mass shootings at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, NY, and the school shooting in Uvalde, TX.

Under the CCIA, state legislators and Gov. Kathy Hochul passed several laws that created new requirements to obtain a concealed carry license and regulated firearm ownership in general, including a 16-hour course with a two-hour interval of time, an extensive list of premises where firearms are prohibited, the requirement to disclose all social media information to law enforcement, the requirement to disclose all firearms and persons in the home, along with a clause “good moral character” which gave licensing officers wide discretion over what constituted “good moral character”. “

Supreme Court justices vacated the 2nd Circuit’s decision to uphold the controversial CCIA, sending the case back to the Court of Appeals for another look.

In doing so, the Supreme Court essentially reverted to a decision by Judge Glenn T. Suddaby of the Northern District, which had largely ruled the CCIA unconstitutional until the 2nd Circuit intervened again.

The St. County Prosecutor Lawrence Steve Button has served as counsel with Gun Owners of America on the Antonyuk case since county lawmakers approved his participation in October 2022.

With the 2nd Circuit’s new ruling, a number of “sensitive spaces” that were hit by the Supreme Court’s intervention are now back on the effective list.

Firearms will not be permitted in urban parks, zoos, hospitals, menthol or chemically dependent health providers, bars and restaurants that allow alcohol consumption on site, along with banquet halls, theaters, schools and government buildings .

A requirement to provide proof of “good moral character” has also been reinstated, a controversial measure that many critics of the legislation say gives licensing authorities broad and ambiguous latitude to reject an applicant.

Applicants will also again be forced to submit information about people living in the home, including children, grandchildren, spouses or partners and other residents.

In the decision, or rejected by the court, is the requirement to disclose social media profiles for investigation, as well as a former restriction on using private land that is open to the public.

Public parks that do not include urban zoos and parks are also mandated by the decision.

Houses of worship are allowed to have armed security on site, a move that was not mandated by the decision but led to statutory changes.

Gun rights organizations have previously argued that under the original interpretation of the CCIA, anecdotally 97 percent of the state would have been considered no-go space.

Even after language was passed in the 2023 budget bill that excluded the Adirondack Park and Catskills Park as restricted areas, critics of the legislation said nearly half of the state was still a restricted area, essentially revoking a license concealed carry.

Court documents show that the judges who heard the arguments took a very different approach than the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals on the scope of the 2nd Amendment, while taking a very narrow view of quality.

In one section, the justices commented that church gatherings did not even fall within the range of protected gatherings under the First Amendment, a position that has been continually overturned by Federal Courts that have in effect said that churches are in fact covered of the First Amendment.

Antonyuk was launched in the wake of the famous 2022 NYSRPA v. Bruen decision, which greatly expanded gun rights.

Following the ruling, many gun rights organizations have since launched lawsuits against state lawmakers, arguing that laws passed to ban “assault rifles” and high-capacity magazines, among other things, violate the 2nd Amendment.

Button said cases are now weighed against a historical analog that must be consistent with those enacted at the nation’s founding and when the 2nd Amendment was ratified in 1791.

In many cases, state lawmakers and attorneys general have since shifted to an interpretation of the 1868 laws, arguing that post-Reconstruction urban centers were growing and that additional restrictions on firearms became necessary for public safety.

But critics of that interpretation say those laws were founded on racist rhetoric as governments tried to keep firearms out of the hands of Native Americans, freed slaves and former soldiers and Confederate sympathizers who might retain those loyalties after the Civil War.

The GOA’s options for moving forward include retaking the cases and appealing to the Supreme Court again, or accepting the remand and litigating again at the District Court level and working up to the 2nd Circuit.

In a public statement following the court’s decision, GOA officials signaled that they may in fact take the case to the Supreme Court, however, no formal action had been announced as of press time.

“This is an outrageous ruling by a court of anti-gun judges. The 2nd Circuit got it wrong the first time, the SCOTUS (Supreme Court) told them to try again and this almost identical ruling is a slap in the face to every gun owner in New York. We will continue the fight in Antonyuk v. Nigreli,” GOA officials wrote.