New York gun dealers suffered yet another setback on Wednesday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to stop new gun regulations from going into effect.
Gun sellers applied for emergency relief in early January to block a series of new gun laws that would require background checks for private gun and ammunition sales and ban firearms in “sensitive” locations such as stadiums, places of worship and museums, among other provisions.
The court rejected the application to grant relief Wednesday, with no explanation or dissents.
“We are disappointed that not one of the nine justices saw fit to grant the plaintiffs some stay of enforcement of the new laws against them,” Paloma Capanna, the lead attorney for the gun retailers, told Fox News. (RELATED: ‘Blatantly Unconstitutional’: Another Lawsuit Filed Against Oregon Officials For Restrictive Gun Measure)
New York governor Kathy Hochul announces new concealed carry gun regulations, at a press conference in New York city on August 31, 2022. (Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)
“We are challenging the ability of the state of New York to target dealers in firearms in the lawful stream of commerce, to put them out of business, which is what the new laws will do,” she added. “So it really was unfortunate to see that we couldn’t get any emergency temporary injunction against those laws.”
The new restrictions are part of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which was passed after the Supreme Court struck down an earlier New York gun law in June 2022, ruling that the Second and Fourteenth Amendment permit individuals to carry a handgun outside of the home.
On Jan. 11, the Supreme Court rejected a request from gun owners to block the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, though Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas signaled at the time that they would be interested in taking up their case once it makes its way through the lower courts.