NYC's Good Moral Character Requirement Ruled Unconstitutional

Over at the Epoch Times is a story by Zachary Strieber entitled Supreme Court Ruling Means NYC's Restrictions on Gun Licensing Are Unconstitutional: Federal Judge reporting on case involving an applicant for a NYC gun license.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down New York state's restrictive gun permitting scheme means the New York City rules that enable officials to deny people firearm licenses over their moral character violate the U.S. Constitution, a federal judge has ruled.

New York officials "have failed to show that the broad discretion afforded to licensing officials" under city code "is consistent with the history and tradition of firearm regulation in this country," U.S. District Judge John Cronan said in his ruling.

City law lets officials reject applications for gun permits if they determine a person is not "of good moral character" or for any other "good cause."

The ruling came in a case brought by Joseph Srour, a New York City resident who applied for gun licenses from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2018 and 2019.

NYPD officials denied the applications because Mr. Srour had been arrested, fined for traffic violations, and had his driver's license revoked. He was never convicted of a crime.

The first problem with these types of laws is that they impose a prior restraint on exercise of a protected right. Imaging if someon had to obtain a government permit to go to church, or to write a pamphlet?  Imagine that your first amendment rights could be denied because the government did not like your church or the subject you were writing about?  Imagine that you had to pass a test to vote?  This is what getting a license is like to have a gun. In addition to the already onerous burden placed on the rights of NY residents, they must show "good moral character," a requirement that is arbitrary and capricious. Such requirements could be used to deny a permit to the pope!

New York officials have been hostile to guns since at least the Sullivan Act in 1911. but this loathing for guns is misplaced. They should have learned from Prohibition that when the demand for something is strong enough, banning it is useless. They should, rather, have concentrated on the miscreants perpetrating the crimes.