Democrats keep trying to shred the Constitution.
But the court system still works to constrain the left.
And now a judge smacked down Democrats with one epic defeat.
U.S. District Court Judge in Western New York John Sinatra ruled that the state’s Concealed Carry Improvement Act was unconstitutional because it violated the First and Second Amendment rights of churchgoers by banning firearms in houses of worship.
“Ample Supreme Court precedent addressing the individual’s freedoms under the First and Second Amendments to the Constitution dictate that New York’s new place of worship exclusion is unconstitutional,” Judge Sinatra wrote.
Judge Sinatra explained that the law discriminated against worshippers by treating churches differently than secular businesses.
“There is no evident justification for the view that secular business owners are more qualified than religious leaders to determine whether to allow armed self-defense on their property,” Judge Sinatra added.
The judge noted that Tabernacle Family Church Pastor Micheal Spencer held a religious belief that he must protect his flock and that banning firearms in his church infringed upon his sincerely held religious beliefs.
“But it does not ultimately matter whether he is correct that hired security—armed or not—would effectively protect the congregation,” Sinatra said. “Pastor Spencer and Church members have a religious belief that they, themselves, must protect the flock. Indeed, religious beliefs ‘need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection,’” Judge Sinatra continued.
Attorney Erin Murphy, who represented the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling.
“We’re pleased the court recognized that no American should be forced to sacrifice one constitutionally protected freedom to enjoy another. Houses of worship have a constitutionally protected freedom to decide for themselves whether to allow legally possessed firearms into their facilities,” Murphy declared.
“Singling out houses of worship for total disarmament demonstrates hostility toward religion, leaves them defenseless to rebuff violent attacks, sticks the state’s nose into how religious services are conducted, and defies at least two recent Supreme Court rulings against New York,” Murphy stated.
This past June the Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen which applied a new test to gun control laws.
The court ruled that any state’s laws on banning or restricting firearms must comport with the nation’s history and tradition of protecting Second Amendment rights.
This case struck down New York’s repressive concealed-carry permitting regime.
State Democrats passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act — which essentially put new gun bans on the books — in response to the Bruen decision.
Judge Sinatra’s ruling showed that any new gun grabs — as well as many existing gun control laws — will face a skeptical audience in the courts.
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