BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has won a preliminary injunction against enforcement of a New York State ban on firearms in places of worship, with U.S. District Court Judge John L. Sinatra, Jr., declaring, “Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights are being violated…”
“We are gratified with the speed shown by the court in this matter,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It shows the court is taking this case very seriously.”
The case is known as Jimmie Hardaway, Jr. et.al. v. Steven A. Nigrelli, et.al. SAF and its fellow plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Nicolas J. Rotsko at Phillips Lytle LLP in Buffalo, NY, and David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and John W. Tienken at Cooper & Kirk, PLLC in Washington, D.C. Joining SAF in this case are the Firearms Policy Coalition and two private citizens, Larry A. Boyd and Jimmie Hardaway, Jr.
In his 44-page ruling, Judge Sinatra noted New York’s new place of worship restriction is unconstitutional. The state has not demonstrated that the prohibition, under its newly enacted gun law, adopted in reaction to the Supreme Court ruling in the Bruen case, that the ban is “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of sufficiently analogous regulations.”
“The State’s exclusion is, instead, inconsistent with the Nation’s historical traditions, impermissibly infringing on the right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense,” Judge Sinatra wrote.
“Clearly,” Gottlieb observed, “the court is not allowing New York to dance around the intent or the spirit of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Bruen case, which is exactly what the state was trying to do with its new gun control law. “