New York state's new gun law causes controversy

WASHINGTON (TND) — Opponents of New York’s new gun control laws are continuing to fight back, saying it's violating their rights. Some local sheriffs are speaking out against the legislation.

Those upstate New York sheriffs say the new law is “unworkable” — that it bans firearms “basically everywhere” and they’re not going to go out of their way to arrest those in violation.

Sheriff Robert Milby of Wayne County, New York is just the latest to come out against the new state gun law, joining the stance of at least half-a-dozen other peers and the Sheriffs’ Association of New York state.

“This bill does nothing to keep guns out of the hands of the wrong people. All it does is make it more difficult for the right people who are entitled to have guns to get their guns,” said Peter Kehoe, executive director of the New York state Sheriff’s Association.

The current law passed the state legislature over the summer in response to the highly publicized Supreme Court ruling striking down a century-old New York state gun law.

The new law remains on very shaky legal ground. Just last week a federal judge deemed major aspects of the law were unconstitutional, like the requirement to give four character witnesses, hand over social media information and firearm bans from sensitive places including subways, schools and houses of worship. The ruling came after a group of orthodox Jews in Brooklyn filed a lawsuit focused on banning guns from synagogues.

“You are making them sitting ducks. It’s not a myth that Jewish houses of worship are targets for hate," their lawyer argued.

The lack of support from law enforcement and the courts dealt a major blow to state lawmakers who hoped to make New York an example for other states aiming to pass restrictive gun measures.

The executive director of the New York Sheriff’s Association suggests a more successful approach would be for elected officials to consult law enforcement — something he says they did not do when passing the new gun laws this summer.