BUFFALO, N.Y. — U.S. District Judge John Sinatra Jr. has granted a preliminary injunction for the plaintiffs in the case seeking to stop portions of the new gun reforms.
It means legal gun owners are now allowed to carry inside private properties open to the public like businesses.
A portion of the new gun reform law requires private businesses to put up a sign saying "concealed carry weapons welcomed here"; otherwise, the presumption would be that they are not. But the federal court is now saying that there's a substantial portion of this that is likely unconstitutional.
Legal analyst and Buffalo attorney, Barry Covert, joined 2 On Your Side's Scott Levin to break down this federal court decision and what it means for the new gun legislation.
"So it can't be enforced until the underlying legislation or litigation plays its way out. In other words, he's saying I find there's a substantial likelihood on the merits for those that want it to be held constitutional so the state and no law enforcement agency can enforce it but we're going to wait for the outcome of the eventual litigation" said Barry Covert.
Covert went on to say that the gun reform legislation from Governor Kathy Hochul was a "protest piece of legislation" and "federal court judges are going one after the other saying every portion of this new legislation is unconstitutional under the Supreme Court's ruling that we have a constitutional right to carry weapons for our defense and we don't have to explain any other reason outside of our homes."
Earlier this month, Judge Sinatra sided with two Buffalo-area clerics and gun rights organizations who had sued and sought a hold on enforcement of the law making it a crime or people to carry firearms in places of worship.
New York faces multiple federal challenges to its new gun law.
In a separate lawsuit, the state is appealing a federal judge's order to put a hold on several of the state’s new licensing rules for carrying handguns in public. That judge's order is being stayed on appeal.
`