PRESS RELEASE—FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATE: Nassau Handgun Ban Lawsuit Benefits Gun Owners – AGAIN!
Mineola, NY – June 17, 2009 – An important new ruling from a New York intermediate appellate court found that the fundamental right to possess a handgun applies in New York. On this point, the court relied on the decision in Chwick v. Mulvey, the lawsuit that challenged Nassau County’s ban on the possession of handguns mislabeled as “deceptively colored.”
People v. Perkins, a decision of the Supreme Court Appellate Division, Third Department, cites Chwick for the proposition that the United States Supreme Court’s Heller decision, which held that the right to possess a handgun is a fundamental right, applies to challenges of New York gun laws through Civil Rights Law § 4. That state law mirrors the Second Amendment in the United States Constitution. In briefing Chwick, the petitioners argued that Heller must apply to New Yorkers because prior New York rulings held that the interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms provision in state Civil Rights Law follows federal case law on the Second Amendment. Nassau County did not contest the Chwick petitioners’ argument that Heller applies in New York via the Civil Rights Law, and the state Supreme Court accepted it as well.
Post-Heller cases challenging New York’s weapons laws, such as Maloney v. Rice, have been unsuccessful because the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that Heller does not apply. This is because Heller reviewed a District of Columbia gun ban and did not explicitly address whether the Second Amendment applies to the states. The Perkins decision, relying on Chwick, is thus highly significant because it bypasses the need for incorporation of the Second Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. That issue will likely come before the United States Supreme Court via appeal of the Maloney decision and possibly also an appeal of the decision of the Seventh Circuit denying the challenge to the Chicago gun ban. Both of those decisions conflict with the decision of the Ninth Circuit in Nordyke, which found that the Second Amendment was incorporated and thus applies to state gun control laws.
The holding in Chwick was the direct result of the petitioners’ strategy to neutralize the incorporation issue. With the decision in Perkins building upon the foundation laid in Chwick, it is now the law within a significant part of New York that handgun ownership is an individual right protected by state Civil Rights Law, though one subject to “reasonable regulation.” Future suits will certainly be required to test the permissible boundaries of such regulations under Heller.
The Perkins ruling is a second direct benefit to gun owners resulting from the Chwick litigation. Immediately after being sued, Nassau County amended the original gun ban by deleting blue guns from the ban list, and also made other changes that narrowed the scope of the ban.
Despite the positive results from the Chwick lawsuit, the petitioners were unsuccessful in achieving total reversal of the ban at the trial court level. The petitioners are therefore appealing the ruling to the Appellate Division, Second Department.
Recognizing the importance of the Chwick lawsuit and beneficial results like the Perkins ruling, the Shooters’ Committee On Political Education (SCOPE), of Tonawanda, NY, the Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education (SAFE), of Commack, NY, and now Suffolk Alliance of Sportsmen Inc. (SASI), of Copiague, NY 11726, are garnering their members’ support for the appeal of Chwick v. Mulvey.
SCOPE, SAFE, and the petitioners are seeking donations to help with the appeal of Chwick v. Mulvey. A victory in this appeal may well be the springboard for challenging other burdensome and senseless New York gun control laws. Appeals are not inexpensive. Please donate whatever you can to either SCOPE or SAFE. Send donations to:
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SCOPE Please make checks payable to SCOPE, Inc. |
SAFE Please make checks payable to SAFE, Inc. |
SASI Please make checks payable to SASI |
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Please, note in the memo area of your check "Legal Defense Fund-Chwick v. Mulvey." All donations are greatly appreciated. |
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The petitioners continue to express their gratitude to SCOPE, the Freeport R&R Association Junior Club, SAFE, SASI, and to those individuals that have donated to help us succeed in this appeal.
For more information,
contact:
Nassau County News Flash
Alan
Chwick, Editor
516-903-1959
Editor@iNCNF.org
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