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Sensitive Places

Scholarship Highlight: Private Transportation Gun Regulations; Bruen and Pre-Trial Criminal Defendants

Posted by on September 22, 2023

[The scholarship highlighted in this post does not necessarily represent the views of the Duke Center for Firearms Law.] Two new pieces of student legal scholarship are now posted examining aspects of the Bruen test.  First, in a note forthcoming in the Yale Law Journal, Josh Hochman “survey[s] rules and regulations promulgated by railroad corporations […]

The American Bar Association’s Resolution Concerning Guns on College Campuses

Posted by on August 25, 2023

This guest post does not necessarily represent the views of the Duke Center for Firearms Law. Earlier this year, the American Bar Association adopted Resolution 603, a policy resolution about permitting or banning guns on college campuses. Resolution 603 was a proposal from the ABA’s Standing Committee on Gun Violence, which in the past has […]

Litigation Highlight: Michigan Appeals Court Upholds University of Michigan’s Campus Gun Ban

Posted by on August 8, 2023

In a post last November, Jake summarized a remand order from the Michigan Supreme Court in Wade v. University of Michigan: a challenge to the university’s ban on campus possession of firearms with certain limited exceptions.  The Michigan Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate level last fall after Bruen, and Justice David […]

Litigation Highlight: Federal Judge Rejects Challenge to New York’s Church Gun Ban

Posted by on July 12, 2023

On June 28, Judge Vernon Broderick of the Southern District of New York issued a decision in Goldstein v. Hochul denying a motion for preliminary injunction of New York’s post-Bruen law designating places of worship as sensitive locations where guns are prohibited.  The plaintiffs in the case wish to carry concealed firearms—for which they have […]

Litigation Highlight: District Judge Issues Temporary Restraining Order of Certain Portions of New Jersey’s Sensitive-Places List

Posted by on January 27, 2023

On January 9, District Judge Renee Bumb issued a decision in Koons v. Reynolds granting a temporary restraining order of certain sensitive-places prohibitions in New Jersey’s newly-enacted gun law.  That law was enacted in late December in response to Bruen, and among other things it designated a lengthy list of sensitive places where guns are […]

Litigation Update: Antonyuk Round 3; Judge Grants Preliminary Injunction of Large Portions of New York’s Post-Bruen Law

Posted by on November 18, 2022

On November 7, Judge Glenn Suddaby of the Northern District of New York issued a 184-page opinion granting in part and denying in part the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction of New York’s post-Bruen gun regulations in Antonyuk v. Hochul.[1]  Judge Suddaby previously analyzed the same plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on these claims in […]

New York Federal Courts Split on How Expansively To Read the Second Amendment

Posted by on November 4, 2022

One of the most wide-ranging challenges to New York’s comprehensive post-Bruen gun regulatory framework was brought in Antonyuk v. Bruen. There, the court struck down many provisions of the new law. I wrote about the court’s ruling for Slate and, as you can tell from the piece, I think the Antonyuk court bungles much of […]

Federal Judge Strikes Down New York’s Ban on Firearms in Places of Worship

Posted by on October 31, 2022

On October 20, a federal judge in the Western District of New York issued a decision in Hardaway v. Nigrelli granting a motion for a temporary restraining order and enjoining New York’s ban on carrying firearms in “any place of worship or religious observation.”  Notably, the decision by District Judge John Sinatra reached an opposite […]

As States Weigh New Sensitive Places Laws, How Might Current State Practice Impact Litigation after Bruen?

Posted by on October 19, 2022

After New York moved quickly post-Bruen to amend its gun laws to institute new application requirements and designate additional locations as sensitive places where guns are banned, the expectation was that other former may-issue states would follow suit.  That largely has not transpired yet, and New York’s law—including many of its locational restrictions—was temporarily restrained […]

Antonyuk Round 2: Federal Judge Restrains Enforcement of Much of New York’s Post-Bruen Gun Law

Posted by on October 10, 2022

On October 6, Judge Glenn T. Suddaby of the Northern District of New York issued a decision partially granting a request for a temporary restraining order of New York’s revised gun law (the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, or CCIA).  The CCIA was passed on July 1, about a week after Bruen, and took effect on […]

Stickley v. Winchester, State Analogues, and the Folly of Narrow Historical Focus

Posted by on October 7, 2022

On September 27, a Virginia state trial court granted a motion for preliminary injunction of certain provisions of the city code of Winchester, Virginia that made it unlawful to possess guns in city buildings, public parks, recreation or community centers, and public roads, sidewalks, or other locations used for or adjacent to permitted public events.  […]

Litigation Highlight: Angelo v. District of Columbia

Posted by on September 21, 2022

In Antonyuk v. Bruen, a district court judge recently suggested in dicta that New York’s list of sensitive places where guns are prohibited is unconstitutional under the standard set forth in Bruen.  I summarized that opinion here, including why its analysis of sensitive places appears inconsistent with Bruen’s directive to reason by analogy to determine […]

Litigation Update: Antonyuk v. Bruen

Posted by on September 6, 2022

We previously summarized the preliminary injunction briefing in Antonyuk v. Bruen, a challenge to New York’s amended gun laws.  Following a hearing on August 23, Chief Judge Glenn T. Suddaby of the Northern District of New York denied the preliminary injunction motion and dismissed the case for lack of standing in an August 31 decision.  […]

Litigation Highlight: Montana Supreme Court Unanimously Upholds Permanent Injunction of Permissive Campus Carry Law

Posted by on July 29, 2022

Last month, in Board of Regents v. Montana, the Montana Supreme Court unanimously held that the state’s Board of Regents has the exclusive power to regulate firearms on Montana University System (MUS) campuses. The litigation involved a challenge to Montana House Bill No. 102 (HB 102), which would have allowed the possession and carrying of […]

New York’s Response to Bruen: The Outer Limits of the “Sensitive Places” Doctrine

Posted by on July 13, 2022

Immediately following the Supreme Court’s decision in Bruen striking down New York’s proper-cause permitting standard, New York Governor Kathy Hochul took to Twitter to call the decision “reckless[]” and “outrageous,” and pledged further action “to keep New Yorkers safe.”  Just over one week after the decision was issued, on Friday, July 1, New York state […]

NYSRPA v. Bruen and the Future of the Sensitive Places Doctrine

Posted by and on June 22, 2022

As we await the Supreme Court’s decision in NYSRPA v. Bruen—which will address the extent to which states can regulate public carry through licensing—the question of whether states can prohibit firearms in specific locations has become increasingly salient. During the Bruen oral argument, the justices posed hypothetical questions as to whether states could restrict firearms […]

New ABA Resolution: Opposition to Guns in Polling Places

Posted by on March 31, 2021

In late February 2021, the American Bar Association adopted Resolution 21M111, “Opposition to Guns In Polling Places,” which is short enough to insert as a single block quote: RESOLVED, That the American Bar Association urges federal, state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact statutes, rules and regulations to prohibit the possession and display of […]

Carrying Guns at the Polls: What Does the Second Amendment Have To Say?

Posted by on February 10, 2021

Among the drama of this past election cycle was a flurry of debate over the question of whether Michiganders could carry their guns to the polls. On October 16, 2020, the Michigan Secretary of State issued a directive prohibiting the open carry of firearms at or within 100 feet of polling places on election day. […]

Strict Gun Laws Likely Saved Lives During the Capitol Insurrection

Posted by on January 27, 2021

The events of January 6, 2021 were tragic and shameful. Five people lost their lives as a result of the failed attempt to overthrow our elected government. But without the federal and D.C. gun laws in place, it could have been much worse. Scenes from around the country this summer demonstrate that, in the absence […]

Guns Laws, Decatur, and Protecting Black Lives

Posted by on January 20, 2021

I just finished Kathleen Belew’s excellent book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America, and one story there stuck out to me. It’s a story about racist violence motivating stricter gun regulations with particular resonance for this moment. In 1979, a small group of Black protesters was marching in protest of […]

Members of Congress Have Little Right to Bear Arms on Capitol Hill

Posted by on January 15, 2021

After last week’s riot at the Capitol, the acting House Sergeant-at-Arms implemented a new policy requiring House members to be screened for weapons before entering the House chamber.  On Tuesday, June 12, the U.S. Capitol Police declined to admit Rep. Lauren Boebert (R.-Colo.) to the floor of the House of Representatives after she refused to […]

Recent Center Commentary

Posted by on January 13, 2021

Over the past few weeks, Joseph and Darrell have done some commentary on the relationship between guns and democratic institutions. Joseph Blocher & Alan Chen, Why Do States Ban “Electioneering” but Allow Guns at Polling Places?, Slate (Jan. 5., 2021) Olivia Li, The Gun Rights Rhetoric That Helped Seed the Insurrectionist Mindset, The Trace (Jan. […]

Litigating Guns in Schools

Posted by on November 11, 2020

Last Friday, the Michigan Supreme Court issued an order in a case it was holding until the U.S. Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol. The Michigan case, Wade v. University of Michigan, concerns the constitutionality of the University’s ban on weapons on campus property. In accepting review of the case, the Michigan […]

Update on Lawsuit Against Michigan Polling Place Restrictions on Open Carry

Posted by on October 30, 2020

As I wrote about earlier this week, there’s been a lot of recent action around Michigan’s new restrictions on carrying firearms into polling places. Although the legal challenge was not framed in Second Amendment terms, the individuals and gun-rights advocacy groups who brought the lawsuit presented the case as a conflict between their right to […]

Litigation Highlight: Lawsuit Over Michigan’s Restrictions on Guns in Polling Places

Posted by on October 28, 2020

On October 16, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a memo in her capacity as “chief election officer with supervisory control over local election officials in the performance of their duties.” In that memo, Benson “clarif[ied]” that open carrying of firearms at or within 100 feet of a polling place is prohibited. The directive […]