U.S. Supreme Court Denies Cert to Case Challenging N.Y. Concealed Carry Law
4.8.2025
At issue: The Empire State’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which added new restrictions on gun use after the Supreme Court’s earlier decision in the Bruen case (2022) eliminated a significant New York gun control law.
The primary restriction leading to the litigation over that law was a sensitive places designation, which establishes gun-free zones — barring even licensed concealed carry for self-defense — in certain areas of New York City.
The court’s decision to decline the case indicates that the ban on concealed firearms in these sensitive locations, including churches, parks, entertainment outlets and other public places where people gather, is still valid law.
Another provision of the law requiring gun owners to demonstrate their good moral character to obtain concealed carry licenses remains the law as well. The Gun Owners of America, a lobbying organization spearheading the litigation, issued a statement this week saying it was disappointed with the Court’s decision.
Appeals Court Ruling Left in Place
The decision leaves in place an appeals court ruling, from the Second Circuit, that upheld parts of the law, while also vacating some of its provocative elements.
The appeals court vacated a requirement that handgun license applicants reveal their social media accounts, and said a section of the statute that made it a crime to carry a concealed gun onto private property without the express consent of the owner, was unenforceable.
Gov. Kathy Hochul praised the Supreme Court’s decision to decline the lobbying group’s challenge to the law yesterday, saying that “New York’s strong gun safety laws save lives.”
The Supreme Court three years ago struck down New York’s older weapons law, which restricted guns being carried outside the home to people who could show they had a special need for protection.
