The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on gun carrying rights, NYS Rifle and Pistol Assoc v. Bruen, has obliged Albany to make major revisions to New York’s venerable licensing law for carrying concealed firearms in public places. The court in Bruen invalidated a pivotal provision in the 1913 Sullivan Act which limited availability of “concealed carry” licenses to applicants who had “proper cause,” or a special reason to carry a gun. PL 400.00(2)(f). “Proper cause” was not defined in the Penal Law, but was judicially interpreted to mean “a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession.” Klenosky v. NYC Police Dept., 75 A.D.2d 793 (1st Dept. 1981; aff’d 53 N.Y.2d 685 (1981); upheld in Kachalsky v County of Westchester, 701 F.3d 81 (2d Cir 2012).

With the elimination of the “proper cause” requirement, gun licensing authorities will no longer be asking applicants why it is necessary for them to carry a gun in public places for self-protection. The “Letter of Necessity” that has confined gun carrying to a select group for over a century has been abolished. Because local licensing officials can no longer vet applicants by eliciting their reason for carrying a gun, New York is obliged to enact clearer, stricter and more effective laws concerning who, where, when and how a concealed firearm is to be carried in a public place. The New York legislature has responded with a regulatory scheme that, despite some lingering constitutional problems, accomplishes this important objective to a considerable extent. Most of the new law took effect Sept. 1, 2022.

The Demise of ‘Proper Cause’

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