BUFFALO, NY (October 13, 2022) – Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced today that it has filed a new Second Amendment lawsuit challenging New York’s law banning guns in “any place of worship or religious observation.” The complaint in Hardaway v. Bruen, which was filed one month after FPC filed a lawsuit challenging multiple other “sensitive location” bans in New York, can be viewed at FPCLegal.org.

“The challenged Place of Worship Ban operates to deny Plaintiffs and other typical law-abiding individuals from carrying loaded, operable handguns on their person in case of confrontation for immediate self-defense in a place of worship that would otherwise permit them to carry,” argues the complaint. “As Defendant Bruen’s subordinate, the First Deputy Superintendent of the State Police, has said, state ‘troopers ‘are standing ready’ to ensure the new laws are followed.’ The State Police further added ‘an easy message’ for individuals like Plaintiffs who seek to carry their firearms: ‘We have zero tolerance. If you violate this law, you will be arrested. It’s as simple as that.’”

“That New York would even consider, let alone enact, the pernicious banning of peaceable concealed carry in houses of worship goes to show how out of touch their lawmakers are with the rest of the population,” said FPC Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack. “Particularly at a time when houses of worship have increasingly become the targets of unlawful violence, the idea that people should be disenfranchised of their right to protect themselves, simply because they choose to exercise their right to congregate, is grotesque and immoral. Peaceable individuals need not waive some of their fundamental rights to exercise others.”

Individuals who would like to Join the FPC Grassroots Army and support important pro-rights lawsuits and programs can sign up at JoinFPC.org. Individuals and organizations wanting to support charitable efforts in support of the restoration of Second Amendment and other natural rights can also make a tax-deductible donation to the FPC Action Foundation. For more on FPC’s lawsuits and other pro-Second Amendment initiatives, visit FPCLegal.org and follow FPC on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube. 

Firearms Policy Coalition (firearmspolicy.org), a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization, exists to create a world of maximal human liberty, defend constitutionally protected rights, advance individual liberty, and restore freedom. FPC’s efforts are focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and adjacent issues including freedom of speech, due process, unlawful searches and seizures, separation of powers, asset forfeitures, privacy, encryption, and limited government. The FPC team are next-generation advocates working to achieve the Organization’s strategic objectives through litigation, research, scholarly publications, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory action, grassroots activism, education, outreach, and other programs. 

FPC Law (FPCLaw.org) is the nation’s first and largest public interest legal team focused on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and the leader in the Second Amendment litigation and research space.