Georgia joins fight against NY gun law
4:30 pm, February 12th, 2013
Georgia has joined 18 other states in challenging a U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals decision upholding a New York gun law.
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens and other attorneys general have filed an amicus brief requesting the U.S. Supreme Court review Kachalsky v. Cacace, 817 F. Supp. 2d 235, which involves a law they say infringes on the Second Amendment.
The law requires a person to show “proper cause” to the state in order to obtain a license to carry concealed handguns.
In 2011, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that the law did not violate the Second Amendment because the state had an interest in promoting safety and preventing crime. In November, the federal appellate court affirmed the district court’s decision.
Olens issued a written statement today in which he disagrees: “The Second Amendment explicitly gives law abiding citizens the right to not only keep arms, but also to bear arms.
By requiring citizens to demonstrate a ‘special need for self protection’ in order to legally carry a firearm outside the home, the State of New York is depriving its citizens of a fundamental constitutional right.
This case rises to the level of Supreme Court review as it involves a core individual liberty enumerated by our Founding Fathers in the Bill of Rights.”
Olens also said the amicus brief argues that the case will allow the nation’s high court to “resolve two of the most commonly raised questions regarding the Second Amendment: (1) whether its protections apply with equal force outside the home, and (2) whether governments can require law-abiding citizens to provide evidence supporting a specific need in order to obtain a concealed carry permit.”
The coalition of states challenging the court decision is led by the attorney general of Virginia. Other states that have signed on to the amicus brief are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah and West Virginia.
Contributor: Kathleen Baydala Joyner in Attorney General | subscribe to rss | 
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March 11th, 2013 at 9:52 pm
Is their any update on this? I am a NY’er and I appreciate other states taking concern as well carrying the fight for our rights. We as NY’ers are losing our basic freedoms on what feels like a daily basis.
Additional information on the pistol permit, for those who can apply, is that it costs us hundreds of dollars for the mandatory fingerprint, background, and application fees. On top of the mandatory fees that are required just to APPLY for the permit, we send our application to the county clerk which in turn gets forwarded to a judge where our applications sit for up to 12-15months, possibly years. There are no requirements or restrictions on how long the process takes and in the very end of the application you never get to meet with the judge if you are denied. How is that constitutional? When filling out my application I wrote down “self-defense” the police offered who reviewed it stated “Are you serious, that will never get approved, I would put down target and marksmanship as the reason for the permit”.
An additional side note, I can purchase an illegal handgun down the street in 25 seconds. for less than they sell in the store.
Please send updates!
April 1st, 2013 at 11:27 am
I am all for background checks for people who want to purchase a gun. I also believe annual automated reviews of a person’s criminal history should be conducted and notices sent to people who no longer qualify to own a firearm be sent. So much is focused on the initial background, but not potential disqualifying criminal history subsequent to purchasing a firearm. On a side note, guns are an easy scapegoat to cure social issues. Thousands of people die to due to driving drunk but we do not seek to ban alcohol; thousands die due to cigarettes, but no effort to demonize those either, and the list goes on. A gun is an object until it gets in the hands of the person who wants to do something bad with it.