WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 18: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor takes part in a yearly event celebrating Women’s History Month organized by Pelosi in the U.S. capitol building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. This year’s event honored the women Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court: Associate Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. (Photo by Allison Shelley/Getty Images)
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor kept in place a New York City rule for gun permits, allowing the city to reject applications if an applicant doesn't have “good moral character.”
The case is the latest to come before the high court following its 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, which expanded gun rights by declaring New York state’s handgun licensing system unconstitutional. ruling The request came to Sotomayor because she hears emergency requests from the New York-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Sotomayor rejected the request without comment and without involving the full court.
Joseph Srour
In 2018, applied to the New York City Police Department (NYPD) License Division for a permit to own rifles and shotguns in his home, and the following year he applied for a license to own handguns in his home. His requests were denied citing Srour’s past arrests, poor driving record, and allegedly false statements on the applications as the reasons for denial, in accordance with New York’s rules. According to New York Law, a license can't be issued unless the applicant is of good moral character and there's no good reason to deny the license. Not disclosing arrests on the application and lack of cooperation during background checks are specifically allowed reasons for denial.
Srour didn't mention either of his two arrests on his application, ticking “No” when asked if he had ever been arrested.
His application was turned down and he was given a notice explaining the decision:
Another notice stated that Srour’s history of bad driving (on both land and water) and status as a “scofflaw” were additional reasons for the denial:
Based on your prior arrests for [ …] you have shown poor moral judgment and an unwillingness to abide by the law. The above circumstances, as well as your derogatory driving record (twenty-eight moving violations and thirty license suspensions), reflect negatively on your moral character and casts [sic] grave doubt upon your fitness to possess a firearm.
Srour then sued New York City and NYPD Commissioner Edward A. Caban to challenge the denials, arguing that the city’s regulations are unconstitutional following the Bruen case.
Pursuant to 38 RCNY §§ 3-03(h) and 5-10(h), an applicant who has a “poor driving history, has multiple driver license suspensions, or has been declared a scofflaw by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles,” may be denied a rifle/shotgun permit and/or handgun license. Mr. Srour’s driving history includes 28 moving violations from June 1991 to December 2013, 24 license suspensions between August 1991 and December 2000, and six license revocations between July 1992 and January 1995. In addition, he received two summons [sic] for Navigational Law violations in August 2012 and in August 2015, both of which were for the same offense (while on a Jet Ski), showing a disregard for the rules even after being informed of them. Notably, Mr. Srour’s Navigational Law violations occurred recently. Mr. Srour’s poor driving history demonstrates an inability to abide by laws and regulations, shows a lack of moral character, and provides an additional ground for denial.
The district court issued a
permanent injunction against the “good character” part of the licensing system in October 2023. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit postponed that order pending appeal. Srour appealed that postponement to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming that the Second Circuit's ruling was a “continu[ation of] its longstanding history of disregarding this Court’s Second Amendment jurisprudence.” arguing In his brief, Srour argued that it's not constitutionally acceptable to require a gun license applicant to prove “good moral character,” because there's no “
past example” for such a requirement as required under the Court’s ruling in Bruen, and because “forcing the public to get the government’s permission before they can legally have long guns is just not in line with American values.”“The people are not obligated to ‘prove’ their fitness before exercising the Right,” Srour argued about the Second Amendment.
to New York’s moral character requirement is already pending at the Supreme Court in another case,
A separate challenge Antonyuk v. James U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor kept a New York City gun licensing rule in place that allows the city to reject gun license applications on the grounds that an applicant lacks “good moral character.” The case is the latest to come before the high court in the wake of its 2022 ruling in New […].