U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield, of the Southern District of New York. Photo: Rick Kopstein/ALM

A federal judge in New York City maintained key portions of New York's Concealed Carry Improvement Act on Tuesday—the requirement for applicants to provide licensees their social media accounts, character references, and an enhanced 18-hour level of training.

Judge Lorna Schofeld of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York made the ruling in favor of the state and against Jonathan Corbett, a West Coast attorney who resides part-time in Brooklyn, and who sued the state to have those portions of the CCIA tossed.

Schofeld said that Corbett lacked standing because he applied for his pistol license after the law took effect on Sept. 1.

Schofeld's ruling comes on the heels of a federal judge in Syracuse granting a temporary order that struck down six key portions of the CCIA in October.

In a joint statement, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James said: "We are pleased with [Tuesday's] decision to keep provisions of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act in effect. Common-sense gun laws keep our streets and communities safe from senseless gun violence. Challenges to New York's gun laws undermine public safety and increase the presence of guns in our communities. We will continue to fiercely defend the constitutionality of our laws and protect New Yorkers from these baseless attacks."

Corbett, a California-licensed civil rights attorney who practices nationwide, said Wednesday: "The government is really trying to delay this one and to fight tooth and nail over every procedural technicality. They can buy this law time. But a lot of it is going to be struck down; some of it has already… But it's going to be in tatters eventually, and for political reasons or whatever it is, it's going to go back and forth for a little while."

Corbett said that by his estimate, it'll cost more than $1,000 for pistol-permit training, which is cost prohibitive to most New Yorkers, "knowing that in three years your license expires and you've got to renew, is not feasible."

Corbett said he will appeal Schofield's ruling to the Second Circuit, and will "fix" the lack of standing issue by joining another case against the state whose plaintiff applied for a license after Sept. 1.