Appeals Court Upholds New York City’s Moral Character Gun Permit Rule

A person aims his pistol at a shooting range in New York on June 23, 2022. Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images

A federal appeals court on Sept. 9 upheld New York City’s law that lets officials reject gun permit applications if they determine the applicants don’t have good moral character.

A U.S. district judge in 2023 blocked part of the law, finding it unconstitutionally infringed on rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. The judge sided with Joseph Srour, whose application was denied due to a history including prior arrests. New York City lawyers appealed.

Judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit stayed the previous order, and Srour then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined his request to vacate the stay in April.

The Second Circuit on Monday upheld the law because officials have since given Srour a permit.

“We now hold that because Srour has been granted the very relief he sought, the case before us is moot, and we lack jurisdiction to hear the merits,” Circuit Judge Eunice C. Lee wrote for the circuit panel assigned to the case.

The panel, in addition to vacating the previous decision, dismissed New York’s appeal as moot and returned the case to the district court with instructions to dismiss the part dealing with the moral character portion of the law.

The decision does not affect Srour’s claims that officials violated his Second Amendment rights when they rejected his application for a gun permit in 2019, Amy Bellantoni, a lawyer representing Srour, told The Epoch Times in an email.

“Mr. Srour’s plenary claim for the city’s violation of his Second Amendment rights remains alive and well,” she said.

A spokesman for New York City’s law department told The Epoch Times in an email, “We are pleased with this court ruling which keeps an essential part of the city’s sensible rifle and handgun permitting law in place.”

The New York City Police Department had denied Srour’s gun permit application because he didn’t disclose he had been arrested, even though he was never convicted of any crimes. Officials also noted Srour had been fined for traffic violations and that his driver’s license was revoked.

City officials had said in their rejection letter that Srour’s arrests, his failure to include them in his application, and his driving record “reflect negatively” upon his moral character and “casts grave doubt” on his fitness to possess a firearm.

U.S. District Judge John Cronan in his ruling last year blocking the law pointed to a 2022 decision from the U.S. Supreme Court in which justices said officials defending gun restrictions must show the restrictions are “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.” New York officials did not show a historical tradition of requiring good character to receive permits, Cronan said.

After the ruling, New York officials appealed. Srour, meanwhile, filed a new application for a gun permit while suing the city again based on his belief that officials would still deny him a permit. But on March 21 of this year, officials granted him the document, then asked the appeals court to toss the case as moot since permit holders receive automatic renewals every three years unless officials have a reason to believe the applicant’s status is changed.

That led to Monday’s ruling.

“It is unfortunate that the Second Circuit determined Mr. Srour’s injunctive relief claims are moot, considering that the ‘automatic renewal’ they reference is qualified by the phrase ‘unless the police commissioner has reason to believe the status has changed’ ... and the city’s confirmation at oral argument that the language encompasses the violation of any law,” Bellantoni, Srour’s lawyer, said.

“Just last month, the city denied a license to a client whose ‘blemishes’ consisted only of traffic offenses. Mr. Srour remains subject to the ’at will' suspension of his license and/or denial of his renewal application.”

City officials said during a hearing in the case that Srour’s character would not be reassessed unless he is arrested again or decides to violate laws, according to quotes from the hearing cited by the appeals court.

“We agree with the city that there is no reasonable likelihood Srour again will be subject to the allegedly unconstitutional character requirement,” Lee, the circuit judge, wrote for the panel.

The unanimous ruling came from Lee and U.S. Circuit Judges Pierre N. Leval and Raymond J. Lohier Jr.