In layman’s terms: A district court judge ruled that New York State must accept applications for concealed carry permits from out-of-state residents, regardless of whether they own property or work in the state.
On Wednesday, August 20, the United States District Court for the District of New York issued a summary judgement ruling that New York State must accept applications for non-resident concealed carry permits.
The victory undercuts New York’s attempts to stall Second Amendment rights at its borders, and is a significant win for the individual plaintiffs, Americans across the country, and Gun Owners of America (GOA) and Gun Owners Foundation (GOF), the Second Amendment rights groups that backed the case.
“The right to keep and bear arms doesn’t end at the New York state line. New York has continually violated the rights of not only its own citizens by treating the Second Amendment as a second-class right, but also the rights of non-citizens to be able to defend themselves while in New York. Our Plaintiffs, Carl Higbie, Joseph Harris, and Michael Votruba, already had permits from other states, but New York refused to allow them to apply for permits to carry in New York,” said Eric Pratt, Senior Vice President for Gun Owners of America in a text to News2A. He added, “That’s when Gun Owners of America and Gun Owners Foundation stepped in. Now, thanks to our nationwide fight to hold states to the plain meaning of the Constitution, nonresidents can apply for carry permits in the Empire State.”
As we reported, the case known as Higbie v. James was filed in February of 2024 against Steven G. James, in his official capacity as Superintendent of the New York State Police, among others, and challenged New York’s prohibition (Penal Law § 400.00(3)(a)) on both granting concealed carry permits for non-residents and granting reciprocity for those permits from other states.
U.S. District Judge D’Agostino’s order states explicitly that New York “must permit residents of other states to apply for permits to carry firearms in New York,” and “all other officers, agents, servants, employees, and persons under the authority of the State shall not refuse to accept applications from otherwise eligible persons who are not residents or employees of the State of New York.”
The judge also dismissed the state’s cross-motion for summary judgment.
The state’s law was challenged both “facially” and “as-applied,” along with a few non-Second Amendment doctrines, including the Full Faith and Credit claim, and the Privileges and Immunities Clause, both of which failed.
But it was ultimately the “as applied” challenges for plaintiffs Harris and Vortuba upon which the case turned, with the judge noting, “…Plaintiff Higbie’s facial challenge to the New York firearm statute is not moot.”
Judge D’Agostino applied the Bruen test, finding, “Defendant James has not presented any legislative history which supports restricting nonresidents from applying for a firearm license in New York.”
The judge concluded, “Ultimately, in this case, there is a lack of historical tradition to support the notion that states can exclude out-of-state applicants.”
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