Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A federal judge in Buffalo has issued a temporary restraining order regarding large portions of New York's new gun law. In particular, the part of the law that prevents people from carrying guns in places of worship.
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Expert legal analyst and local attorney, Paul Cambria says he's not surprised to hear this ruling from a judge.
"This is at least the second judge in New York, that struck down provisions and it makes sense. Let's say you identify, 'Well, this is a place that people who have gun permits can not carry their guns,'you're now identifying a vulnerable spot. In other words, to some wrongdoer, if they're going well, we know the law prohibits guns from being there. So chances are nobody there has a gun and so now they're sitting ducks and that's basically what he said," Cambria says.
Governor Kathy Hochul was in Western New York on Friday at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership Gubernatorial Forum and said this about the legal challenge, "What we have now is a contrast between two different court opinions. I'm sure this will go up to the Court of Appeals, but we also believe that you should not be carrying a gun in church. We have made an exception and say that if it's for security purposes, security guards, of course, you can have a gun. We're not talking about that. We're talking about ordinary citizens, filling our pews, in churches and synagogues and even our schools with guns. We're trying to get more guns off the street not to have a proliferation of them because the access to guns in all walks of life can lead to more violence and that's where trying to stop more people from getting killed from guns."
The Governor said that she will be challenging this in court.
U.S. District Judge John Sinatra Jr., who called for this temporary restraining order has set an argument forward for a preliminary injunction. If it's granted, then the state will file an appeal with the Court of Appeals.
"The state would appeal that to the Court of Appeals in New York City, three federal judges and asked that the preliminary injunction be halted pending resolution of the whole lawsuit. Now, they already did that in one of the other cases. The Court of Appeals, in fact, took the judge in Syracuse, his halting of provisions and said, 'No, we're going to let those provisions be in place, until the case is heard.' Whether the court will do that on Sinatra's ruling, I'm sure we're going to find out soon," says Cambria.
Will portions of the law continue to be chipped away at?
"Yeah, without a doubt. I had originally filed a challenge to the law as well, to the presumption of no carrying and places like bars and restaurants. This law has a lot of flaws in it and eventually, it's going to get its way to the Second Circuit in New York, and probably the US Supreme Court, and they're going to be provisions on that I think that will be struck down," Cambria says.
Erie County District Attorney John Flynn has no comment about the decision made by the judge. He is the defendant of two separate cases, the one that prompted the judge to issue the restraining order and another with another second amendment group, "I'm assuming they sue me because I have the ability to enforce the law. So they probably picked me out, because I have the potential to charge that offense and enforce that law. Just so we're clear, I haven't done it yet. There has not been one case yet, on the new gun law that has come across my desk since was passed in June, so I haven't done it yet. That doesn't mean I'm not gonna do in the future, but I haven't done it yet."
"What they did was just asked for a temporary order, which prohibits me from prosecuting the gun possession case in a place of worship or a religious observance. So like I do with everything, I just follow the law," Flynn adds.