The Second Circuit ruled New York cannot broadly prohibit licensed gun owners from carrying firearms on private property open to the public without explicit owner permission, while leaving the state’s park restrictions intact.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal appeals court has invalidated a key portion of New York’s concealed carry restrictions, ruling the state cannot automatically prohibit licensed firearm holders from carrying guns onto private property that is open to the public unless property owners expressly grant permission.
The decision, issued Monday by a three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, partially sided with gun rights organizations challenging provisions of New York’s 2022 Concealed Carry Improvement Act enacted after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Bruen decision.
The panel affirmed a lower court injunction preventing New York from enforcing its private-property restriction against concealed carry permit holders at locations such as stores, restaurants, gas stations and other businesses accessible to the public.
Under the challenged provision, individuals with valid concealed carry permits were barred from carrying firearms onto private property unless the owner posted clear authorization permitting weapons.
Gun rights advocates have referred to the provision as a “vampire law,” arguing it effectively requires firearm owners to obtain explicit invitations before entering public-facing private establishments while armed.
In its 43-page opinion, the court evaluated the law under the constitutional framework established by the Supreme Court, which requires governments to demonstrate that firearm restrictions are consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of gun regulation.
The panel concluded New York failed to establish sufficient historical precedent supporting the broad private-property carry prohibition.
The state had relied heavily on an 18th-century New Jersey trespassing law involving firearms, but the court determined that law addressed unauthorized entry onto private homes and farms rather than businesses or properties open to the public.
Writing for the majority, Circuit Judge Joseph F. Bianco stated the restriction could substantially impair lawful exercise of Second Amendment rights because many businesses do not clearly post firearm policies.
“In other words, because many private property owners will likely not post signs indicating whether firearms are permitted or forbidden on their premises, rules like the ones promulgated by New York and Hawaii will effectively prohibit individuals from carrying firearms on any private property, even private property that is open to the general population,” Bianco wrote.
While the court struck down the private-property provision, it upheld New York’s restrictions on carrying firearms inside public parks.
The panel pointed to dozens of historical laws restricting firearms in urban parks and recreational spaces, including regulations tied to the creation of New York City’s Central Park in the 19th century.
“With the explosion of urban parks came contemporaneous regulations that, like the Central Park regulation, flat out prohibited gun carriage inside those parks,” Bianco wrote.
Circuit Judge Steven Menashi dissented from the majority’s conclusion regarding parks, arguing the court relied too heavily on post-founding historical examples rather than regulations from the nation’s founding era.
“Regulations during the founding period restricted the misuse of firearms and the manner of carriage but did not prohibit carriage in public parks or other places reserved for recreation and public gatherings,” Menashi wrote. “In my view, the historical evidence from the founding period cannot be discounted.”
The ruling drew mixed reactions from advocacy groups on both sides of the gun debate.
The Second Amendment Foundation, one of the organizations challenging New York’s law, welcomed the ruling while signaling additional legal challenges remain ahead.
“While today’s ruling strikes down a key pillar of New York’s carry ban law, there’s still plenty of work to be done, including on the issue of carry in parks,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
Gun-control advocacy organization Everytown for Gun Safety praised the court’s decision to preserve restrictions involving parks and other sensitive public areas.
“By upholding New York’s parks law, the Second Circuit has made it clear that we have a right to protect our communities from the unique dangers of guns in sensitive places,” Janet Carter, managing director of Everytown’s legal division, said in a statement.
The broader constitutional dispute over private-property carry restrictions remains unresolved nationally.
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the issue in Wolford v. Lopez, a separate case challenging Hawaii’s law restricting firearms on private property open to the public without express owner consent.
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