Gun Owners Associations, Higbie Sue Over N.Y. Gun Law

The Gun Owners of America and the Gun Owners Foundation are challenging New York's ban on out-of-state residents honoring out-of-state permits or being able to obtain a concealed carry permit and are representing several plaintiffs in nearby states.

One of those plaintiffs includes Newsmax TV host Carl Higbie, a Second Amendment advocate and former Navy SEAL.

The organizations have filed a federal lawsuit in the Northern District of New York to challenge the blanket ban, according to the GOA.

The organization pointed out that even though reciprocity laws are in place for other rights, such as operating motor vehicles with an out-of-state license, the right to bear arms in the state is not accessible to the 94% of Americans who are not residents. Further, New York is the only state where nonresidents are not permitted to keep and bear arms.

Higbie is a resident of nearby Connecticut.

"The State of New York and its cadre of anti-gun politicians have done everything in their power to weaken and outright ban the Second Amendment within their borders," GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said in a statement. "The Supreme Court has made clear that the right to bear arms extends to the public square, and this right is for all Americans, not just those who are residents of individual states."

Sam Paredes, on behalf of the GOF board, added that New York is the only place nationally where out-of-state residents are barred from exercising their Second Amendment rights, "and there's no doubt the anti-gun legislature in Albany purposely designed it this way. We've warned these politicians before and we'll do it again, fall in line on the Second Amendment, or we will make you."

The publication Bearing Arms noted that California also does not allow reciprocity or allow non-residents to apply for permits, which has led to a lawsuit, California Rifle & Pistol Association v. Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, involving a Florida resident who is not permitted to carry a weapon once he's on the ground.

The attorneys representing Higbie and others in the New York case, however, stress that in California, non-residents are permitted to transport firearms within the state's borders, but that is not permitted under New York law.

Meanwhile, legal analyst Jonathan Turley notes that New York, with its "flagrantly unconstitutional gun control laws" passed to "please its political base" has given gun rights advocates a long list of losses to point to in their fight.

He pointed out that New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed through the state's Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which passed the state legislature by a vote of 43-20, within hours after the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the case of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which found New York's concealed carry law unconstitutional and extended the right to own a gun for self-defense in the home to also exist outside the home.

In December, a federal appeals court blocked enforcement of three parts of the concealed-carry law, partially leaving lower-court orders in place to freeze enforcement of the law.