Four people who can legally possess firearms in their home state but are not allowed to carry them when crossing into New York have filed a legal challenge in federal court. 

The case filed last week has four individual plaintiffs who are residents of states near New York and often visit the state for business or on common everyday tasks such as shopping. While upstanding adults in their home states – and in many cases with active carry permits where they live – they are not even allowed to apply for a permit to carry in New York, much less practice their right to keep and bear arms when traveling about the Empire State. In their 20-page filing in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, they argue this is unconstitutional.

"Citizens do not lose protection of their rights under the First Amendment’s speech or religion clauses when they cross state lines,” reads the complaint. “Nor do they lose their protections under the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures. Likewise, they do not surrender their Second Amendment protected rights when they travel outside their home state."

Each of the individual plaintiffs is a member of the pro-gun Firearms Policy Coalition, a co-plaintiff in the case as an organization.
    
"We will continue to teach Governor Hochul that the right to keep and bear arms doesn’t end at New York’s borders,"  said FPC President Brandon Combs, in an email to Guns.com. "We look forward to ending New York’s immoral ban on carry by non-residents and allowing millions of peaceable people to exercise their rights as they visit the Empire State."

The case is Shaffer v. Quattrone.

Banner image: SIG Sauer P365 Fuse with a Romeo X red dot optic mounted and carried in a Galco Corvus modular Kydex holster. Spare mag is carried in a Crossbreed Confidant.