WXXI - New York State Attorney General Letitia James has gone to court in an effort to keep a new, tougher gun law on the books in New York.
James said on Monday that her office has filed a motionto keep the Concealed Carry Improvement Act in effect as the appeal process by the state moves forward.
She called that Act, which took effect in September, “common-sense gun control legislation” that is critical to the state’s effort to reduce gun violence.
The legislation was passed after a decision by the U.S. Supreme Court last June struck down some key elements of the state’s rules on carrying handguns.
A federal judge last week ruled that parts of the new state law on guns are unconstitutional. But he also put his decision on hold for three days to allow New York to challenge it in a higher court.
And that’s a process that the Attorney General began on Monday as she filed a motion with a federal appeals court seeking a stay of last week’s order, pending the state’s formal appeal of the recent ruling.
During a stop in Rochester last week, Governor Kathy Hochul defended the new gun law, which among other rules, puts additional limits on where firearms can be carried. She sald that it’s needed to "protect the citizens of our state."