The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit released its long-awaited decision in Antonyuk v. Chiumento – all 261 pages of it – on December 8. The court affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the Northern District of New York preliminarily enjoining major parts of New York's Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which was enacted to counter the Supreme Court's decision in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Bruen.
The circuit court stripped down the district court's finding that plaintiffs are likely to prevail on the merits regarding the law's provisions on licenses to carry firearms and on sensitive places where firearms may not be possessed. It upheld the lower court's finding that plaintiffs are likely to prevail regarding restricted places where firearms may be possessed on private property open to the public only if the owner positively consents.
First, the court agreed that requiring license applicants to disclose even pseudonymous names under which they post online infringes on the Second Amendment and raises serious First Amendment concerns. Remember those three guys in 1787-88 who signed their names as "Publius"? The court let stand the requirement of "good moral character," which "is a spongy concept susceptible to abuse," but abuses "can still be vindicated in court as they arise."
