The incorporated Second Amendment affords the people “the right to keep and bear arms.” U.S. Const. amends. II, XIV; McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010); District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008). Despite the clear text and this Court's precedent, New York's licensing regime does the opposite. It deprives everyone of that right, only returning it to those select few who manage to first secure a firearm license from the police. For everyone else, possession of a firearm is effectively a “violent felony,” punishable by 3.5 to 15 years in prison. N.Y. Penal Law §§ 265.03; 70.02(1)(b). New York’s licensing requirements criminalize the exercise of the fundamental Second Amendment right, with rare exception. As a result, each year, we represent hundreds of indigent people whom New York criminally charges for exercising their right to keep and bear arms. For our clients, New York’s licensing regime renders the Second Amendment a legal fiction. Worse, virtually all our clients whom New York prosecutes for exercising their Second Amendment right are Black or Hispanic. And that is no accident. New York enacted its firearm licensing requirements to criminalize gun ownership by racial and ethnic minorities. That remains the effect of its enforcement by police and prosecutors today.
Saturday, July 24, 2021
The Most Amazing Amicus Brief So Far in NYSRPA v. Corlett
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I think the original Sullivan Law was aimed at Irish and Italian immigrants. Of course useful against any scorned minorities
ReplyDeleteTimothy "Big Tim" Sullivan, a Tammany Hall crooked politician, managed to get his gun-control legislation passed before his tertiary syphilis took his life.
ReplyDeleteHe used it as a tool to keep the Irish hoodlums used by the Tammany Hall mob in line. If any of them proved to be "difficult", the Tammany controlled police would slip a gun into one of his pockets, then arrest him. A year in jail would teach him who was boss.
Of course, the Irish hoods also benefitted, since the law was used to control the newer Italian immigrants, whose hoodlum members were competition for the established Irish hoods.
The first conviction under the Sullivan Law was an Italian immigrant, who claimed he was armed to protect himself from the "Black Hand".
Timothy "Big Tim" Sullivan, a Tammany Hall crooked politician, managed to get his gun-control legislation passed before his tertiary syphilis took his life.
ReplyDeleteHe used it as a tool to keep the Irish hoodlums used by the Tammany Hall mob in line. If any of them proved to be "difficult", the Tammany controlled police would slip a gun into one of his pockets, then arrest him. A year in jail would teach him who was boss.
Of course, the Irish hoods also benefitted, since the law was used to control the newer Italian immigrants, whose hoodlum members were competition for the established Irish hoods.
The first conviction under the Sullivan Law was an Italian immigrant, who claimed he was armed to protect himself from the "Black Hand".