The case arose before Bruen, when New York required a showing of special need to get a license to carry a gun for self-defense. The petitioner had argued that she needed a gun because she and her husband would often carry substantial sums of cash for business, but the New York licensing authorities responded that she "failed to explain why her stated self-defense needs were not already adequately and independently addressed by her husband's recent acquisition of an unrestricted concealed carry license."
The New York intermediate appellate court rejected that logic (Matter of DiPerna-Gillen v. Ryba, decided Thursday in an opinion by Justice Stan Prizker, joined by Presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry and Justices Michael Lynch, Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald and Eddie McShan). The court's main point was that, given the decision in Bruen, which came down while the appeal was pending, petitioner had a constitutionally protected right to carry, even without a showing of special need. But the court added:
To the extent that the Attorney General attempts, inexplicably, to justify the determination based upon petitioner's "fail[ure] to explain why her stated self-defense needs were not already adequately and independently addressed by her husband's recent acquisition of an unrestricted concealed carry license," we note that this was not a basis for the denial of this application and "judicial review of an administrative determination is limited to the grounds invoked by" respondent.
More to the point, the statutory framework contains no such required showing and, suffice it to say that petitioner's Second Amendment rights are not dependent on her spouse's acquisition of an unrestricted concealed carry pistol permit.
