Jewish gun club sues Gov. Hochul to allow concealed weapons in synagogues

• Published date: 04 October 2022
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

"This law specifically targets religious people, by threatening them with arrest and felony prosecution if they carry their firearm while engaging in religious observance."

New York State Jewish Gun Club press release

The New York State Jewish Gun Club, a Rockland County-based firearms club, funded and put together the lawsuit, which was filed on Sept. 29 in the Southern District of New York. It specifically targets the section of the new gun laws that prohibits the carrying of concealed weapons in "sensitive locations," including houses of worship.

"New York State has expressed that legal carry in New York is okay, but not for those who observe religious rituals and customs," a NYS-JGC press release said. "This law specifically targets religious people, by threatening them with arrest and felony prosecution if they carry their firearm while engaging in religious observance."

In July, Hochul signed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act into law in response to the June Supreme Court decision that struck down New York's strict concealed carry laws. The CCIA law added multiple checks on gun ownership in New York State, including strengthening eligibility requirements and prohibiting concealed carry permit holders from bringing their firearms into bars, libraries, schools, government buildings, hospitals and houses of worship.

Tzvi Waldman, who is Orthodox and the founder of the gun club, told the New York Jewish Week that he is hoping for "immediate relief" with the lawsuit.

"I feel pretty confident in this case," Waldman said. "People are concerned. This is a constitutional right and it's extremely real to us."

Steven Goldstein, president of the Orthodox Congregation Bnei Matisyahu in Brooklyn and Meir Ornstein, a Rockland County resident, are listed as the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell are listed as defendants alongside Hochul.

Biblical beginnings

The lawsuit opens with a quote from Kings II in the Hebrew Bible.

"And the priest gave the officers of the hundreds, the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David, which were in the house of the Lord," the passage reads. "And the couriers stood, each one with his weapons in his hand, from the right end of the house to the left end of the house, before the altar and the house, surrounding the king."

The...