Two CCW holders allied with Second Amendment groups filed a federal lawsuit on Tuesday against the state of New York over a new anti-gun initiative that essentially bans lawful carry almost everywhere. 

Brett Christian and John Boron, joined by the Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition, are named as plaintiffs in a suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Named as defendants are Kevin Bruen, superintendent of the New York State Police, and John J. Flynn, Erie County District Attorney. At the heart of the case is New York Senate Bill S 51001, a ban on guns in public so strict that it even blocked historical reenactors from bringing muskets to commemorative events under the threat of a felony charge. 

SB 51001 was rushed into law by the Democrat-controlled state legislature and signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul within days of a landmark 6-3 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that found New York's restrictive concealed carry scheme unconstitutional. The plaintiffs in the case filed this week are seeking to upend the new law as well. 

"Collectively, New York’s ‘sensitive location’ and ‘restricted location’ designations, and Defendants’ enforcement of them, are a de facto ban on the fundamental, individual right to bear arms in public virtually everywhere," argues the complaint. "Indeed, asked by reporters where New York carry license-holders would be able to legally exercise their rights after enactment of S51001, New York Governor Kathy Hochul could only affirm that New Yorkers have their Second Amendment rights to peaceably carry for self-defense on ‘[p]robably some streets.'"

The advocates supporting the challenge point out that New York is thumbing its nose at the nation's high court and have only replaced one carry ban with another. 

"The New York Legislature and Gov. Kathy Hochul are making a mockery of the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which struck down the state’s onerous ‘proper cause’ requirement in June," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb in an email to Guns.com. "While they’re playing politics, the rights of law-abiding New York citizens are being cavalierly trampled. We cannot allow that to happen just so anti-gunners in Albany can play games with the constitution, just to see whether they can get away with it.

"The fact that New York’s new regulatory scheme essentially prohibits lawful carry in most public places is outrageous," Gottlieb continued. "The state is being too clever by half, and we’re confident that the federal courts, with the recent guidance from the Supreme Court on Second Amendment jurisprudence, will bring a quick end to this nonsense."

The case is known as Boron v. Bruen.