A federal court ruling has barred the state of New York from requiring concealed carry permit applicants to disclose their social media accounts.
The ruling from a U.S. Federal Court of Appeals comes after the Supreme Court declared previous state concealed carry requirements unconstitutional, prompting New York to pass the Concealed Carry Improvement Act with new provisions. However, the U.S. Appeals Court has now struck down three requirements, including the controversial mandate for applicants to list their social media accounts.
The court reasoned that revealing social media accounts compromises anonymity and imposes an undue burden on the right to bear arms. Citing Supreme Court criteria that state gun laws must align with the “history or tradition of firearms regulation” in the country, the judges found the social media disclosure requirement lacking in historical precedent.
“Disclosing one’s social media accounts — including ones that are maintained pseudonymously — forfeits anonymity in that realm. Conditioning a concealed carry license on such a disclosure imposes a burden on the right to bear arms that is without sufficient analogue in our nation’s history or tradition of firearms regulation,” the court explained in its ruling.
While this ruling removes the obligation to disclose social media accounts, one aspect of the law remains in effect: the requirement for applicants to demonstrate “good moral character.” Nevertheless, the court’s decision has been met with approval from Second Amendment advocates, with the Gun Owners of America praising it as a win.
“Governor Hochul and her cabal in Albany never seem to get the message, and in turn, [Gun Owners of America] is proud to have played a major role in rebuking her unconstitutional law,” said Erich Pratt, Senior Vice President of Gun Owners of America. “Nevertheless, this was not a total victory, and we will continue the fight until this entire law is sent to the bowels of history where it belongs.”
