NEW YORK – A federal judge has blocked a provision in New York’s new gun law that prohibits the carrying of firearms in places of worship from enactment in some parts of the state.
United States District Judge John Sinatra Jr. sided with two Buffalo area priests and gun rights organizations who had sued and called for a suspension of law enforcement until the judge decides on the case on the merits.
The preliminary injunction issued Thursday night extends a temporary suspension ordered by Sinatra last month. The blocking order directly applies to Erie and Niagara County prosecutors and state police, who are the defendants in the lawsuit.
“The nation’s history does not condone such a foray into the right to possess and bear arms in all places of worship in the state,” Sinatra wrote.
New York lawmakers rewrote state gun laws this summer after the US Supreme Court invalidated the state’s long-standing system of granting permits to carry firearms outside the home. Among the provisions of the new law was the prohibition of firearms in places of worship and other places deemed “sensitive”.
A spokesperson for the state attorney general said they were reviewing their options.
New York faces multiple federal challenges to its new gun law.
In a separate lawsuit, the state is appealing an order from a federal judge to suspend many of the state’s new rules on licensing for carrying weapons in public. That judge’s order is suspended on appeal.
