This is the ninth installment of a series documenting an ordinary New Yorker attempting to exercise his Second Amendment rights: Part I (license application), Part II (application rejected),Part III (the lawsuit), Part IV (appeal filed), Part V (appellate briefing complete), Part VI (N.Y. Appeals Court Not Interested in Ending NYPD Corruption), Part VII (Corruption? You Can’t Prove It!), Part VIII (appeal to N. Y. high court).
A brief update: To the surprise of no one, the N. Y. Court of Appeals has denied (.pdf) my motion for leave to appeal my gun license case, this concluding my state-level judicial remedies. In doing so, the Court has continued a long-standing tradition not of coming out and approving the City’s gun laws, but refusing to even consider the matter. Since the U. S. Supreme Court clarified a decade ago that the 2nd Amendment is an individual right not tied to militia membership, the N.Y. Court of Appeals has refused every case that has come its way on the matter.
The leading case on gun rights in this jurisdiction is, in fact, a federal case that the N.Y. high court also refused to hear. And so, this is the way my case will go: the next update will be a pleading filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, asking the federal courts to declare that the due process I have received to date has been deficient. My license app was decided by a corrupt cop, reviewed by a court that applied the wrong standard, and appealed in courts that simply didn’t care.
Let’s fix this. Stay tuned.
Professional Troublemaker ® 
Thanks for the update. Maybe we need to Sue by the Thousands like L Ron Hubbard Did when his religion of Scientology was denied, and Sueing by the thousands, cause and overturn in favor of the religion, now known as one of the largest.
Good luck and thanks for the update. I want my right to carry in NYC also.
No point in giving up now. Keep chewing away at it.
By the way, it seems NY doesn’t think it is a right. They seem to see it as a privilege. None of this surprises me tho. Not even a little bit.
They don’t see it as a right. That’s why this needs to go before SCOTUS. The corruption aspect is an interesting one, but isn’t likely to get your average citizen a carry permit.
These latest updates amount to a corrupt judicial system, that encourages cop corruption and usurpation of the Supreme Court, Bill of Rights and US Constition.
Perhaps this a current day example of corruption that has existed unchallenged for decades.
Perhaps if the sheeple challenged this long ago, those justices would act realistically rather in a self-centered state of artificial authority.
What, courts that really do not care? Is that possible in our American system of justice?
Going to the SDNY will eat up a lot of time and won’t get you anywhere IMO. Even if they do say you’re due process was violated, they’ll still just cite Kachalsky. Why not appeal to SCOTUS now that a clear split exists?
I have to be honest, I also think your corruption claim is very thin. What you’re basing your claim on is anecdotal evidence of corruption in other gun liscence applications, but didn’t allege that you yourself experienced any.
I also think you’d have a stronger case if you had actually answered the questions on the application regarding pain meds or job loss. Those questions, while slightly intrusive were designed to ascertain the motives for firearm purchase (drugs, rage), and if, as a non drug doing, non angry person, you were still denied a permit, you’d have a stronger case…and even if you had been fired (as opposed to laid off or discharged) or if you had at some point taken prescription pain meds, though 5 years ago for your wisdom teeth (that’s the only time I was ever prescribed them…) you’d have a better case also…but because you refused to fill out those questions, you harmed your standing, though I agree those questions ARE intrusive. I think your undue burden argument is the best one, as just to apply for a Carry liscense, you shelled out thousands of dollars and went through weeks of work, and passed a background check. I have another question…do you have a liscence to own a gun? Because the thresholds are different.
If it were me, I’d go back and fill out the rest of the form with those two questions (honestly, so they couldn’t deny you for lying on a government form), and see if they still deny your application. If they have you pay all of those fees all over again, and your only prescription drug use was as directed by a doctor for a short time AND you were never fired (but laid off like the rest of us…), then both your undue burden claim is stronger and your “good reason” case would fit right into it. I also think you’ll have a better time with this in federal court, as it really is a constitutional question.
Please bring this to the supreme court. The restrictions in NY are more restrictive than in most European countries. What other constitutional right do you know of where you need to spend multiple years trying to convince a government official to let you exercise the constitutional right?
Imagine if you needed to apply for a permit, pay hundreds or thousands in processing fees, and wait months to years for interviews where you have to convince an officer that you needed your 4th, 5th and 8th amendment rights , where in the meantime they could break into your home, search the place and torture you in order to get any information they liked?
What other rights are chilled/ denied until you get permission to exercise them. Why is it that an American citizen with no criminal record, and clean background, is not allowed to exercise a right listed in the bill of rights?
Isn’t it unconstitutional to strip someone of a constitutional right without due process?