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The ruling marks the latest victory for gun owners in a
tug-of-war with the state of New York over its strict new
statute, which as of Sept. 1 makes obtaining a license more
difficult and prohibits firearms in a long list of "sensitive"
public and private places.
Places of worship are among those places where guns were
forbidden. Two church leaders sued last week, saying that such a
constraint ran counter to the gun rights spelled out in the
Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Judge John Sinatra agreed in a 40-page written
ruling, issuing a temporary restraining order against the state
of New York from carrying out the law while the court fight
proceeds.
Sinatra cited a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in June
that struck down New York's previous law, which barred
individuals from carrying a handgun in public without proof of
special circumstances. The top court found that the statute,
enacted in 1913, violated the Second Amendment.
New York legislators quickly passed new rules on gun ownership
which Sinatra, in his ruling, called "even more restrictive"
than the law struck down by the Supreme Court.
"The nation's history does not countenance such an incursion
into the right to keep and bear arms across all places of
worship across the state," Sinatra wrote. "The right to
self-defense is no less important and no less recognized at
these places."
The judge added that, based on the Supreme Court's ruling
earlier this year, the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on the
merits of their lawsuit.
A spokeswoman for the New York Attorney General said the office
was reviewing the decision and "considering our options in our
ongoing efforts to protect New Yorkers and defend our common
sense gun laws."
(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and
Christopher Cushing)
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