Pirate's Cove

If you pass a law that is hard to enforce and probably unconstitutional, why would Democrats think anyone would enforce it? non-paywalled version at Yahoo)

Another Challenge to New York’s Gun Law: Sheriffs Who Won’t Enforce It

Robert Milby, Wayne County’s new sheriff, has been in law enforcement most of his adult life, earning praise and promotions for conscientious service. But recently, Milby has attracted attention for a different approach to the law: ignoring it.

Milby is among at least a half-dozen sheriffs in upstate New York who have said they have no intention of aggressively enforcing gun regulations that state lawmakers passed last summer, forbidding concealed weapons in so-called sensitive areas — a long list of public spaces including, but not limited to, government buildings and religious centers, health facilities and homeless shelters, schools and subways, stadiums and state parks, and, of course, Times Square.

“It’s basically everywhere,” said Milby, in a recent interview in his office in Wayne County, east of Rochester. “If anyone thinks we’re going to go out and take a proactive stance against this, that’s not going to happen.”

Everyone, including myself, said that it would be everywhere. Remember, it’s not just those places Milby mentioned

The big one is that private businesses must post their intent to allow CCW holders to enter while carrying. Because most won’t bother, mostly because most won’t know the rule. In most states private companies must post if you may not carry in the business. So, this NY law will mean concealed carry will be banned in most businesses across the entire state. Those few who are truly paying attention will post a “sure, go ahead and carry” sign, if they are gun rights supporters. Most won’t have any idea. Which means that CCW holders, who tend to be law abiding, won’t carry often because they cannot bring it anywhere. In a city like Albany they can at least lock it in a car. In NYC, they won’t usually have that ability, so, it will stay at home.

If not posted, it’s banned.

On Thursday, a U.S. District Court judge blocked large portions of the law, dealing a major blow to lawmakers in Albany who had sought to blaze a trail for other states after the Supreme Court in June struck down a century-old New York law that had strictly limited the carrying of weapons in public. Between the court challenge and the hostility of many law enforcement officers, New York’s ambitious effort could be teetering.

It was simply an attempt at a big blanket ban after the Supreme Court struck down New York’s “special need” law. If NY chooses to appeal the newest block, it will probably end up at the Supreme Court, and NY will be smacked down yet again.

The judge, Glenn T. Suddaby, agreed to a three-day delay of his order to allow an emergency appeal to a higher federal court. But even before Suddaby ruled, a collection of sheriffs from upstate New York were already saying they would make no special effort to enforce the law, citing lack of personnel, an overbroad scope and possible infringements on the Second Amendment.

Nationwide, conservative sheriffs have been at the front line of an aggressive pushback on liberal policies — often framing themselves as “constitutional sheriffs,” or as self-declared arbiters of any law’s constitutionality. Sheriffs in other states have also been part of efforts to prove a fallacious conspiracy theory that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Of course there needed to be a mention of Trump in a NY Times piece, because Trump Derangement Syndrome.

“I have to enforce it because I swore to uphold the laws, but I can use as much discretion as I want,” said Richard C. Giardino, the Republican sheriff in Fulton County, northwest of Albany. “If someone intentionally flouts the law, then they’re going to be handled one way. But if someone was unaware that the rules have changed, then we’re not going to charge someone with a felony because they went into their barbershop with their carry concealed.”

Such criticism has been heard from Greene County, in the Hudson Valley, to Erie County, home to Buffalo, the state’s second-largest city, as well as from groups like the New York State Sheriffs’ Association, which called the new law a “thoughtless, reactionary action” that aims to “restrain and punish law-abiding citizens.”

How many people even know that quiet part of the law, that it’s illegal unless a business or home (yes, private domiciles) states that concealed carry is allowed?

And as for who was to blame, Milby said the opinions in Wayne County were crystal clear long before Thursday’s decision.

“There’s a very strong sentiment in this county that the governor has just thumbed her nose at the Supreme Court, in what’s being touted as an unconstitutional conniption fit,” he said. “She’s absolutely overstepped.”

The law is a blatant attempt to circumvent the SCOTUS ruling, and all it does is harm law abiding citizens looking to protect themselves. It does nothing to stop criminals. As the NY Daily News wrote “Add it all up, and assuming these requirements survive inevitable court challenges, it’s going to remain fairly difficult to arm oneself legally in New York.”

Read: Bummer: New York State Sheriffs Refuse To Enforce Highly Restrictive NY Gun Law »