Gun Dealers Lose Appeal to Block New York Background Check Law

WASHINGTON — U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday rejected an emergency appeal from New York gun dealers trying to block a new background check law that would have state police review gun license applications instead of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

State police background checks are expected to result in more denials of gun licenses, potentially reducing sales for gun dealers.

Gun shop owners say the state law violates the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which allows private ownership of guns.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the law switching background checks to state police in June 2022 for all “firearm, rifle, shotgun and ammunition purchases.”

Hochul welcomed Sotomayor’s decision Wednesday during a press briefing when she said, “As a result of Justice Sotomayor’s actions last night, we can be assured and feel secure that our law is sound, that it is going to be implemented.”

New background check procedures in the law, called the Empire State’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act, took effect Wednesday. Other provisions of the law, such as a requirement for dealers to keep documents or electronic records to prove gun purchases and sales, started Sept. 1.

New York lawmakers enacted the new law as a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case. The 2022 ruling struck down a centuries-old New York law that required gun license applicants to show a “proper cause” to carry a firearm.

The gun dealers used language similar to the Supreme Court in the Bruen case when they said in a legal brief filed with the court, “In sum, the challenged mandates are preempted by federal law, or unconstitutional under the Second, Fifth and 14th Amendments, and are unconstitutional under ‘to keep’ or ‘to keep and bear arms’ of the Second Amendment.”

The nine gun dealers who filed the emergency appeal argue that state police lack the technical skill to properly assess whether a gun license should be granted. They also say the state did not properly train the police.

In a short period of time, the state police are supposed “to bring a highly specialized industry online and train them on live relay transaction software,” the emergency appeal said. “It can’t be done, and defendants are needlessly interfering in an existing [FBI firearms license] relationship with a federal system that is fully operational.”

Sotomayor handles emergency appeals to the Supreme Court for the Second Circuit, which consists of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. She denied the gun dealers’ appeal without comment.

Other parts of the emergency appeal ask to stop police from conducting on-site inspections of gun shops for “terrorism compliance,” which the gun shop owners say is unconstitutional.

Since Sept. 13, New York state police from their “terrorism” unit have conducted surprise on-site inspections of gun shops.

“It had the intended effect of destabilizing these individual dealers, in addition to sending a tremor through the industry,” the emergency appeal says.

Gun dealers also sought to block a requirement that gun shop customers pay for background checks. The fees would be $2.50 for background checks before purchasing ammunition and $9 for guns. 

The emergency appeal was led by husband and wife gun shop owners Seth and Nadine Gazzola. They said the state law would “put them out of business.”

Sotomayor’s ruling Tuesday is the second time the Gazzolas lost an appeal to the Supreme Court. On Jan. 18, their petition for an injunction against the law was denied.

The appeal before Sotomayor was titled Gazzola v. Hochul.

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