New York Moves To Defend Gun Law

mrreynolds · July 3rd, 2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

In a sign that federal courts here in New York will defend New York City's restrictive gun regulations, a judge is allowing the city to strip a disabled Vietnam War veteran of his gun license.

The decision, handed down this week, is likely the first court ruling to deal with New York's gun-permitting scheme since the Supreme Court declared that the Second Amendment gives citizens an individual right to keep a gun at home for self-defense.

The veteran who lost his gun license, Dominick DiNapoli, said the Supreme Court's decision ought to require that he gets back his gun permit.

"Who needs a gun more than someone like me, who is disabled and can't physically defend his home?" Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview.

The court decision, by Judge William Pauley III of U.S. District Court in Manhattan, does not mention the Second Amendment and defers entirely to the New York City Police Department's permitting process. New York's gun-licensing system is expected to come under challenge soon on allegations that it restricts law-abiding citizens from keeping guns at home for self-defense.

In 1970, police first issued Mr. DiNapoli, then a deer hunter, a license for a shotgun or rifle. In 2002, the department revoked it, citing both a brief period during which Mr. DiNapoli was homeless and criminal charges that had been filed against him and subsequently dropped, Judge Pauley wrote in the decision.

During the time Mr. DiNapoli was homeless — he was evicted from his apartment in 2001 — and failed to inform the police department of a change of address, as is required of permitted gun owners, Judge Pauley noted.

The criminal charges against Mr. DiNapoli, filed in 2000, alleged that he had sent a threatening letter to employees of the federal Department of Agriculture regarding his difficulties in obtaining food stamps. Federal prosecutors subsequently dropped the charges in 2004.

Mr. DiNapoli said he never threatened federal employees. He said that he had written to request food stamps and explain that he was having difficulty paying rent, which had, in turn, led to a feud with his landlord. Mr. DiNapoli said he had written that he feared the feud would turn violent and that he might need to use his guns in self-defense.

In the end, the police department had decided that the Mr. DiNapoli's actions "indicated a lack of good moral character for firearms possession," Judge Pauley wrote.

Mr. DiNapoli's suit argued that the police department places illegal administrative obstacles between people and firearm licenses, by requiring repeated visits to One Police Plaza to submit paperwork or attend hearings and interviews.

Mr. DiNapoli's suit claims that his disabilities — he suffers from joint disease, back trouble, and vertigo — render him unable to travel to One Police Plaza from his home in the Bronx to attend the hearings relating to his case.

In court papers, Mr. DiNapoli explains his complaint by quoting directly from the Declaration of Independence. He accuses the police department of holding inconvenient hearings "for the sole purpose of fatiguing" people "into compliance," one of the grievances listed against King George III. Mr. DiNapoli is a former UPS employee and self-employed woodworker, he said.

He now spends most of his time writing to various government agencies and trying to secure accomodation for his disabilities.

ARTICLE

NKMG19 · July 3rd, 2008, 12:26 PM

Way to go NYC. Not only do you make it very difficult for someone to exercise their 2A rights but you scew over one of this nations veterans.

dukalmighty · July 3rd, 2008, 04:41 PM

I can sympathise with this guy I too am disabled and but for having a firearm if anybody walked into my house they could push me down or worse and rob me blind ,then I could file a police report and probably never see anything again

LSCurrier · July 3rd, 2008, 08:10 PM

Hopefully this will be the start of lawsuits that put NYC and then New York state on the road to respecting the peoples rights and especially the 2nd Amendment!!!

NOTE: I work in Manhattan and live on Long Island and am sick and tired of being denied my 2nd Amendment rights. I would love to hear from other New Yorkers who would like to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights and perhaps we can join together as a class action. If so, PM me and let me know what you think.

Luke

Ridgeline · July 3rd, 2008, 08:12 PM

Typical, when will those liberal states wake up and realize that there are more of us then them. Thank God I live in Texas.

jahwarrior72 · July 3rd, 2008, 08:29 PM

this is why i'm glad i left the bronx, or NYC in general. it's not enough that you have to deal with rampant crime, poverty, and squalor, but you have to deal with a justice system that encourages it.

i'm not surprised that a disabled veteran is getting shafted like this. growing up, i constantly saw vets, reduced to scrounging change from payphones, panhandling, collecting bottles, just to survive. many get turned away from shelters and missions, because of the fear of their mental/emotional states. it broke my heart then, and it does now. i think of my father, and how lucky he was, and is, for not falling prey to the demons that haunt many vets. do you think that the NYPD and city hall cared that these men sacrificed so much for their country? not a lick. it seemed to me, from incidents i witnessed, that some cops were even harder on homeless vets. it's simply digusting. the hell with NYC, and it's mayor, Herr Bloomberg.

obxned · July 4th, 2008, 01:05 AM

"Who needs a gun more than someone like me, who is disabled and can't physically defend his home?" Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview.

Yup, exactly.

Eagleks · July 4th, 2008, 01:39 AM

NYC will lose that case, at one level or another.

July 3rd, 2008, 12:26 PM	#2
NKMG19 Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Florida Posts: 352	Way to go NYC. Not only do you make it very difficult for someone to exercise their 2A rights but you scew over one of this nations veterans. __________________ 2nd Amendment Tees.com FloridaConcealedCarry.com NRA Member

July 3rd, 2008, 04:41 PM	#3
dukalmighty VIP Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: texas Posts: 3,425	I can sympathise with this guy I too am disabled and but for having a firearm if anybody walked into my house they could push me down or worse and rob me blind ,then I could file a police report and probably never see anything again __________________ I like Poetry,Long Walks On The Beach,And Poking Dead Things With A Stick

July 3rd, 2008, 08:10 PM	#4
LSCurrier Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Long Island, NY Posts: 96	Hopefully this will be the start of lawsuits that put NYC and then New York state on the road to respecting the peoples rights and especially the 2nd Amendment!!! NOTE: I work in Manhattan and live on Long Island and am sick and tired of being denied my 2nd Amendment rights. I would love to hear from other New Yorkers who would like to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights and perhaps we can join together as a class action. If so, PM me and let me know what you think. Luke __________________ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

July 3rd, 2008, 08:12 PM	#5
Ridgeline Distinguished Member Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Texas Posts: 1,239	Typical, when will those liberal states wake up and realize that there are more of us then them. Thank God I live in Texas. __________________ "Eternity is Too Long to be Wrong" Texas CHL Instructor & Holder Life Member NRA Member TSRA

July 3rd, 2008, 08:29 PM	#6
jahwarrior72 Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: the raggedy edge Posts: 788	this is why i'm glad i left the bronx, or NYC in general. it's not enough that you have to deal with rampant crime, poverty, and squalor, but you have to deal with a justice system that encourages it. i'm not surprised that a disabled veteran is getting shafted like this. growing up, i constantly saw vets, reduced to scrounging change from payphones, panhandling, collecting bottles, just to survive. many get turned away from shelters and missions, because of the fear of their mental/emotional states. it broke my heart then, and it does now. i think of my father, and how lucky he was, and is, for not falling prey to the demons that haunt many vets. do you think that the NYPD and city hall cared that these men sacrificed so much for their country? not a lick. it seemed to me, from incidents i witnessed, that some cops were even harder on homeless vets. it's simply digusting. the hell with NYC, and it's mayor, Herr Bloomberg. __________________ I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend. (J.R.R.Tolkien, The Two Towers) http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endid=19644781

July 4th, 2008, 01:05 AM	#7
obxned Distinguished Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: OBX, NC Posts: 1,736	*"Who needs a gun more than someone like me, who is disabled and can't physically defend his home?" Mr. DiNapoli said in an interview.* Yup, exactly. __________________ http://www.obxammo.com/ There is only one gun law in this country, the 2nd Amendment. All else is bureaucratic nonsense that I choose to comply with or not at my discretion. When governments make laws, they must consider the unintended consequences.

July 4th, 2008, 01:39 AM	#8
Eagleks Senior Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Kansas Posts: 615	NYC will lose that case, at one level or another.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode