The lawsuit was filed last week in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. It involves Bishop Larry A. Boyd of Buffalo and Rev. Dr. Jimmie Hardaway, Jr., of Niagara Falls, who are challenging a ban on legal firearms carry in churches, which they say is unconstitutional. Joining SAF is the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc.
As explained in the new motion, since a murderer killed nine parishioners at Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in 2015, Reverend Hardaway has almost always carried a firearm for self-defense on Sundays and at services on the premises of the churches he has pastored. New York has now stripped Reverend Hardaway, Bishop Boyd, and other New Yorkers of their ability to defend themselves should the need arise at their places of worship.
“When New York lawmakers adopted their new restrictive gun legislation in response to the Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this year in the Bruen case, they quickly went overboard,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “All places of worship or religious observation suddenly became ‘sensitive locations.’ Now, Rev. Hardaway and Bishop Boyd and others are no longer allowed to carry firearms for their personal protection, even though they’ve been doing so for quite some time. This is regulatory extremism at its worst, and we’re seeking a TRO and asking for a preliminary injunction to put a stop to it.”
The motion was filed by attorneys David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson and John W. Tienken with Cooper & Kirk, PLLC in Washington, D.C., and Nicolas J. Rotsko at Phillips Lytle, LLP in Buffalo. They represent the plaintiffs in the initial lawsuit.
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
