CCIA Changes  by Tom Reynolds

Our friends at GOA-NY sent SCOPE their summary of the state budget items which impact the CCIA.  The changes deal with some of the minor obvious issues with the CCIA but fall well short of dealing with many constitutional issues.

One change has to do with carrying in ‘houses of worship’.  However, it does not deal with the constitutional issue that the state is declaring private property a gun free zone and an owner must take affirmative action in order to carry - and only under the pretext of ‘security’.

It now exempts private property within a public park as a gun free ‘sensitive location’.  Theoretically, if you own a house in a state park you can now carry but if you step or drive off your property into the surrounding park…

GOA-NY tells us:

The Senate and Assembly have finally passed a budget. It has been delivered to the governor and it is commonly understood that the governor will sign the bills. One of the bills, S4005C / A3005C, makes changes to some of the laws put into place by the CCIA. Here is a non-comprehensive overview of the changes. The relevant section is part F (of the bill).

• Exemption from place of worship sensitive location for "those persons responsible for security at such place of worship" [1]

• Privately held land within a public park is excluded from the private park section of the definition of sensitive location.

• The "forest preserve" as defined in subdivision six of section 41 9-0101 of the environmental conservation law is excluded from the definition of public park as a sensitive location. [2] This effectively excludes parts, but not the entirety, of the Adirondack and Catskill Parks from falling under the public park sensitive location definition.

• Summer camps have a narrow exemption that allows them to maintain and use guns in some circumstances.

• Sensitive location exemption for hunting expanded and reworded. "persons while lawfully engaged in taking of wildlife or attempts to take wildlife pursuant to a hunting permit or license issued by the department of environmental conservation, or as otherwise authorized pursuant to the environmental conservation law, and persons while lawfully engaged in hunter education training, marksmanship practice, marksmanship competition or training, or training in the safe handling and use of firearms, in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws, rules, and regulations"

• Sensitive location exemption for employees of the revenue control and security departments of the MTA and the NYC transit authority who are authorized to carry a firearm as part of their employment.

• Sensitive location exemption for persons engaged in historical reenactments and motion picture or theatrical productions while in compliance with local, state, and federal law.

• Sensitive location exemption for persons while participating in military ceremonies, funerals, and honor guards

• Sensitive location exemption for storage or display of antique firearms, rifles or shotguns at museums and historic sites

• Sensitive location exemption for individuals traveling to or actively competing or training in biathlon, while complying with local, state, and federal law.

• Restricted location exemption for hunting. "persons while lawfully engaged in taking of wildlife or attempts to take wildlife pursuant to a hunting permit or license issued by the department of environmental conservation, or as otherwise authorized pursuant to section 11-0707 and 11-0709 of the environmental conservation law"

• Restricted location exemption for employees of the revenue control and security departments of the MTA and the NYC transit authority who are authorized to carry a firearm as part of their employment.

• Police and military exemption for mandatory unload and lock of rifles, shotguns, and firearms when left in a vehicle.

These changes will take effect immediately upon the governor's approval.

It appears that the changes to the body armor regulation contained within the governor's proposed budget did not make it to the final version. It is possible it is contained within another bill that I have not yet come across.

[1] This will affect and may possibly moot Spencer v. Nigrelli, Hardaway v. Nigrelli, and parts of Antonyuk v. Nigrelli, among others.

[2] ENV 41 9-0101 6. The "forest preserve" shall include the lands owned or hereafter acquired by the state within the county of Clinton, except the towns of Altona and Dannemora, and the counties of Delaware, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Oneida, Saratoga, Saint Lawrence, Warren, Washington, Greene, Ulster and Sullivan.