On October 10, 2024, the United States District Court for the Western District of New York in Buffalo permanently stopped the state’s law banning guns on all publicly-open private property without express consent of the owner, and denied the state’s request for a stay of that decision. The case is Christian v. James.
U.S. District Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr. issued a 43-page decision in which he observed, “The Nation’s historical traditions have not countenanced such a curtailment of the right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, the right to self-defense is equally important—and equally recognized—on then vast swaths of private property open to the public across New York State.”
Judge Sinatra further wrote, “The State maintains there is ‘extensive historical support spanning the colonial era to Reconstruction and beyond that forbade carrying guns onto others’ property without their permission. But the State fails, on this historical record, to demonstrate that the challenged restriction is ‘consist[ent] with a well-established and representative National tradition.”
The winning plaintiffs are individual New York gun owner Brett Christian, for whom the case is named, the Firearms Policy Coalition, and the Second Amendment Foundation. Litigation counsel are David Thompson, Peter Patterson, and Nicolas Rotsko.
Defendants are New York State Police Superintendent Steven James and Erie County District Attorney Michael J. Keane.
“As we’ve said all along, the ‘sensitive place’ carry restrictions imposed by New York post-Bruen are unconstitutional. Hard stop,” said SAF Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “We are thrilled that once again, the courts have agreed, and sent this amoral and unlawful ban packing.”
“This is yet another important victory for Second Amendment rights and another major loss for New York, authoritarian governments, and radical anti-rights organizations like Everytown and Giffords. We will continue to fight forward as we work to restore the full scope of the right to keep and bear arms throughout the United States. Hopefully Kathy Hochul is ready to write another check for legal fees,” said Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) President Brandon Combs.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul had said that, after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, the State “doubled down” on its anti-rights agenda. In a statement after the decision, she said that “[the State] came up with legislation. And we have a prohibition on concealed carry weapons in sensitive places. I personally think every place is sensitive[.]”
However, today’s decision again shows that Governor Hochul couldn’t be more wrong, Combs said.
“Regulation in this area is permissible only if the government demonstrates that the new enactment is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of sufficiently analogous regulations. New York fails that test here,” the Court said in its opinion. “Indeed, property owners have the right to exclude. But the state may not unilaterally exercise that right and, thereby, interfere with the long-established Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens who seek to carry for self-defense on private property open to the public.”
“We are delighted with Judge Sinatra’s ruling,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “Once again, Empire State anti-gunners have been held in check by a judge who understands the Second Amendment is not a second-class right. The State tried to perpetuate its virtual ban on legal carry by prohibiting firearms on all private property open to the public for whatever reason, and the judge correctly said this restriction does not pass constitutional muster.”
