SAF Fights New York Law Requiring License for Semi-Auto Rifles

The Second Amendment recognizes Americans’ right to “keep and bear arms”. That right is NOT limited to bolt action or single-shot rifles. But in defiance of the Second Amendment, New York state has imposed a discretionary licensing requirement for persons who want to acquire semi-auto rifles. That essentially allows New York to arbitrarily deny law-abiding citizens their Second Amendment rights.

Consequently, that New York rifle license law is now being challenged in court, in the case of McGregor et al v. Suffolk County, NY, recently filed in Federal District Court for the Eastern District of New York. That lawsuit challenges: “(i) enforcement of Senate Bill 9458, which requires ordinary people to apply for and obtain a discretionary license to purchase, receive, sell, exchange, and/or dispose of semiautomatic rifles, and register their weapons with the government, all under penalty of criminal sanctions; and (ii) enforcement of policies that result in exorbitant 2-3 year delays in issuing a license to purchase, receive, sell, exchange, and dispose of semiautomatic rifles.” Download COMPLAINT HERE.

The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) has filed an Amicus brief in McGregor v. Suffolk County. The SAF argues that New York State’s “rifle license” requirement under New York SB 9458 is unconstitutional.

In its opening section, the SAF brief states, “The State of New York’s requirement to obtain a ‘rifle license’ before an individual may acquire a semiautomatic rifle is repugnant to the plain text of the Second Amendment and this nation’s history and tradition.” SAF founder and Executive V.P. Alan M. Gottlieb notes that there is nothing in the Second Amendment which supports a “requirement that government give its permission so that an individual may exercise the right to keep and bear arms.”

“The state’s requirement that an individual obtain a license prior to acquiring a long gun is simply incompatible with the text of the Second Amendment as informed by this nation’s history and tradition,” said attorney Adam Kraut, who also serves as SAF Executive Director. “New York has continuously imposed additional burdens and regulations on peaceable individuals on the purchase, transfer, and possession of firearms that do not conform with constitutional limitations on the state’s power. It is time for New York to recognize that, despite its preference to the contrary, it does not have the constitutional authority to enact these types of laws which only serve to impede an individual’s ability to exercise their constitutional rights.”