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Albany, NY (WRGB) — A recently passed New York state law that bars licensed firearms owners to carry concealed on all private property is unconstitutional, according to a federal judge.
The ruling down Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York follows a decision in December by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The law makes it a felony for a concealed-carry license holder to carry their firearm on all private property — unless the property owner expressly allows it. District Court Judge John Sinatra Jr. writes that the state can’t enforce this rule on private property that is open to the public.
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. 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.
New York state cannot enforce this part of the law, which also includes a ban on concealed-carry in “sensitive places,” such as government property, religious institutions, healthcare facilities, parks, libraries, places serving alcohol, and others. The Court of Appeals in December upheld the sensitive locations clause but deferred other provisions back to lower courts.
“My office will continue to defend New York’s gun laws and use every tool to protect New Yorkers from senseless gun violence,” Attorney General Letitia James said in December.
Rep. Elise Stefanik applauded Thursday’s ruling.
Despite Kathy Hochul and radical New York Democrats repeated attempts to target law-abiding New York gun owners, today’s ruling from the Western District of New York delivers a win for New Yorkers’ Second Amendment rights, striking down Kathy Hochul’s unconstitutional overreach by simply applying recent common sense rulings of the United States Supreme Court. When it comes to the Second Amendment, Kathy Hochul and New York Democrats refuse to follow the Constitution. I applaud today’s ruling and will always fight for the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding New Yorkers.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a century-old rule in a 2022 ruling, making it easier for New York gun owners to apply for and obtain a concealed carry license. Since 1913, New York state law required anyone seeking a concealed-carry license to show “proper cause,” or justification, to carry.
Gov. Kathy Hochul called state lawmakers back to Albany days after the ruling and within a month of the legislative session ending, to strengthen existing gun laws in response to the Supreme Court ruling.
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Somebody better just desert!!
Own the night — knowing a few tricks can help your eyes work much better in the darkness.
Of the five senses, eyesight is arguably the most important, and during potential emergencies, it’s critical. While other senses play an important role, your eyes are absolutely necessary to locate and evaluate threats, maneuver within your environment, use cover to advantage and effectively target your weapon if necessary.
Sight is so critical, yet it has a serious shortfall — it doesn’t work well at night. Though human eyes aren’t as efficient during low light as a cat or raccoon, there are things you can do to maximize your abilities within the limitations of our species. First, let’s look at the physiological facts.
Anatomy 101
The light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eyeball is called the retina, the equivalent of the film in a camera. This layer is comprised of two types of cells: rods and cones. The cones require a large amount of light to operate, can distinguish all colors in the spectrum and primarily function during daylight or bright situations. Unfortunately, they are nearly useless at night.
The rod cells serve the opposite function. They incorporate a light-sensitive protein known as Rhodopsin, often called “visual purple,” which activates the rod cells and allows you to see at night. Cone cells can be thought of as a high-quality video camera, while rod cells are essentially low-resolution black-and-white webcam.
The greatest abundance of low-light rod cells are a few degrees off the central axis of the eyeball,
so looking a bit away from your center of attention will actually produce a better image.
Rod (night) vision is not as effective as cone (daylight) vision and only allows you to distinguish black, white, shades of grey and the general outline of objects. Our eyes contain mostly cone cells, concentrated at the rear of the eye where most light falls. The more specialized low-light rod cells are scattered throughout the retina.
Several factors affect night vision. Exposure to bright light quickly breaks down the visual purple and ‘blinds’ the rod cells until the protein regenerates. Rhodopsin is chemically related to vitamin A, so a deficit of this vitamin can decrease night vision. Illness, headaches, fatigue, drugs, alcohol and heavy smoking also reduce your ability to see at night.
Thermal imaging devices literally highlight warm objects, but they are also bulky, delicate, depend on batteries
for power and are incredibly expensive!
In The Dark
Most folks already realize night vision does not start working immediately after the lights go out. It takes about thirty minutes for the rod cells to produce enough visual purple to reach maximum effectiveness. Thus, if you know you’re going to be operating in low light, it is important to spend at least a few moments in the dark before setting out. If you can spare 20 minutes, your night vision will be much improved.
One common night-vision-killer is your vehicle’s interior lights. Opening a door instantly leads to a flood of white light, which quickly ruins your night vision. Fortunately, there are workarounds.
You can purchase red or blue interior bulbs, use red lens-repair tape from an automotive store or remove them altogether. Fortunately, most relatively new vehicles have a switch to disable interior lights.
Leaving the interior lights off is standard procedure on police and military transportation and isn’t a bad idea if you feel like you might reasonably encounter 2-legged danger around your vehicle. Risky situations aside, this is also a smart idea for avid hunters, pre-dawn anglers, morning joggers or anyone else traipsing about during the darkness hours. If you need the interior lights to find your lost glove, you can always turn them on!
Putting a filter over the lens of a flashlight is great for protecting night vision when you don’t need a strong burst of light. Many flashlights of the ‘tactical’ and hunting variety do so, while most small Everyday Carry (EDC) lights do not. This problem falls into the category of “Do the best you can with what you have on hand.” I’ve found a fat finger or two makes a nice, adjustable, improvised low-light filter. But be careful, as some LED lights get quite hot!
You’ll never have the night-vision of a coyote but by using some of the techniques mentioned, you can operate effectively
at night without thermal imaging or light-intensifying devices.
Sight Tricks
Even without artificial light, there is usually enough ambient illumination for your eyeballs to work to some degree or another. Rod cells are not located in the center of the retina — the most dark-sensitive region is located six to ten degrees off-axis. This is why the technique of “Off-center vision” works. For example, if you want to examine someone’s face in the dark, you will need to look at their ear. When evaluating a landmark or object, look several feet left or right of it. It takes some practice, but you will be amazed at how well this works.
You must also “scan” with your night vision. Even in dim light, the visual purple eventually bleaches out within 4 to 10 seconds, causing individual rod cells to cease functioning. To compensate, simply shift your glance every few seconds and avoid staring. You have probably noticed that the harder you stare at something in the dark, the more it will seem to float and jump and finally disappear. This is due to the degradation of visual purple.
While electronic night vision devices have evolved to the point where darkness doesn’t pose any substantial hindrance, the old Mark I eyeball is still less bulky, easier and much faster to deploy. Practice these techniques, and you’ll be surprised at how well you can “own the night.”