Sen Kavanagh's Statement on Supreme Court Decision Striking Down NY’s Current Restrictions on Carrying Guns

Statement by State Senator Brian Kavanagh  on Supreme Court Decision Striking Down New York’s Current Restrictions on Carrying Handguns 

“I am extremely disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision today to strike down the requirement of proper cause to obtain a permit to carry a handgun. Our permitting provisions have been a core part of the laws that keep New Yorkers safe, and one of the reasons that we have had one of the lowest rates of gun related death in America. As the dissenting Justices note, the Majority’s decision did not appear to adequately ‘consider the serious dangers and consequences of gun violence that lead States to regulate firearms’ or the manner in which New York’s laws and permitting processes actually work, and did not allow for ‘consideration of facts, statistics, expert opinions, predictive judgments, relevant values, and a host of other circumstances, which together make decisions about how, when, and where to regulate guns more appropriately legislative work.’

“While today’s decision will undoubtedly make it more challenging for us to do our work, we will take the necessary actions to protect New Yorkers. To this end, I am introducing legislation with Assemblymember Amy Paulin to create training, certification, and renewal requirements for applicants for gun permits, consistent with the law as re-interpreted today. We will be discussing additional legislative proposals in the coming days.

“It’s frustrating that the Supreme Court Majority is impeding our efforts to make our communities safer, but we will not be disheartened or deterred from doing everything we can to protect New Yorkers from the scourge of gun violence.”

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