New York State Bar Association Task Force on Gun Violence Final Report March 2015 Approved by the House of Delegates on March 28, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PRELIMINARY OVERVIEW ........................................................................................ 1 Gun Violence in America ............................................................................................... 1 Suicide ................................................................................................................. 4 Mass Shootings and Mental Health ................................................................... 4 Urban Violence .................................................................................................... 9 Intimate Partner Violence Against Women ..................................................... 10 Impact of Firearm Violence in All Forms ........................................................ 11 The Association’s Role ................................................................................................. 11 Public Education ............................................................................................... 13 Beyond the Law: Supporting Gun Violence Research .................................... 13 Organization of Report ................................................................................................ 13 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................... 15 Heller and the Current State of the Law ......................................................... 15 Second Amendment History ............................................................................. 16 Beyond the Law: Supporting Gun Violence Research ..................................... 17 REPORT SECTION ONE: District Of Columbia v. Heller and The Current State Of The Law .............................................................................................. 18 1. The Supreme Court’s Decision in District of Columbia v. Heller .................... 19 1.1 Heller Background .................................................................................. 19 1.2 Heller Majority Opinion ......................................................................... 20 1.3 Heller Dissenting Opinions .................................................................... 22 1.4 Heller’s Unusual Critics and Proponents .............................................. 23 1.5 The Quality of the Guidance Provided by Heller .................................. 25 1.6 The Supreme Court’s Follow-on Decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago ................................................................................................... 26 2. Federal Court Decisions Applying Heller / McDonald .................................... 27 2.1 Decisions Rejecting Second Amendment Challenges to Gun laws....... 28 2.1.1 Heller’s Safe Harbors ................................................................... 28 2.1.2 A Further Word About Public Carry Laws ................................. 35 2.1.3 Regulation of Certain Dangerous Firearms ............................... 37 2.2 Decisions Striking Down Gun Laws Based on Second Amendment Violations ................................................................................................ 39 2.2.1 Public Carry Laws ....................................................................... 39 2.2.2 Chicago City Ban on Shooting Ranges ....................................... 43 2.2.3 Chicago City Ban on Sales of Firearms ...................................... 44 2.2.4 Chicago Ordinance Restricting Gun Licenses to People Convicted of Non-Violent Misdemeanor Offenses ...................... 45 i TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page 2.2.5 Sensitive Places ........................................................................... 45 2.2.6 Waiting Periods ........................................................................... 48 2.3 A Word About the Standard of Review ................................................. 48 2.4 Western District of New York Decision on New York SAFE Act ......... 54 2.5 Southern District of New York Decision Upholding New York City Premise Residence Firearm Licensing Law .......................................... 56 3. New York State Court Post-Heller Challenges to Gun Laws .......................... 58 3.1 Case Decided Before McDonald v. City of Chicago ............................... 58 3.2 Cases Decided After McDonald v. City of Chicago ............................... 60 REPORT SECTION TWO: The History Of The Second Amendment And Its Judicial Interpretation Before Heller ............................................................... 66 1. Contours of the Current Debate Over the Second Amendment ...................... 67 2. Historical Analysis of the Second Amendment: Pre-Enactment (Before 1791) Historical Record ..................................................................................... 69 2.1 English Statutes and Common Law Regulating Right to Keep Arms . 69 2.2 Colonial and Confederal Laws Regarding Firearms ............................ 72 2.3 Colonial / State Constitutions Enshrining Right to Bear Arms ........... 73 2.4 The Second Amendment As a Drafting Exercise: What Contemporaneous Records Show About the Evolution of the Text ...... 76 2.5 The Second Amendment in the Context of The Times ......................... 80 2.5.1 Shays’ Rebellion ........................................................................... 82 2.5.2 Slave Rebellions ........................................................................... 84 2.6 Contemporaneous (1786) Musings About the Limited Nature of the Constitutional Right Enshrined ............................................................ 86 3. An Aside: The Modern Constructions of the Second Amendment Based on Old Dictionaries and Rules of Grammar ..................................................... 87 4. Post-Enactment Developments (After 1791) That Bear On The Interpretation Of the Second Amendment ...................................................... 89 4.1 Nineteenth Century Gun Regulations .................................................. 89 4.2 Nineteenth Century Jurisprudence – Mostly Upholding State Restrictions on Firearms ........................................................................ 90 4.3 Early Twentieth Century Gun Laws and Judicial Rulings .................. 94 4.4 Modern Era Legislation and Judicial Decisions Pre-Heller ................. 95 REPORT SECTION THREE BEYOND THE LAW: Missing Gun Violence Data ................................................................................................................... 98 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 99 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page 2. Background: Congressional Actions That Block Gun Violence Research and Information Sharing .................................................................. 99 2.1 1996 Appropriations Act ........................................................................ 99 2.2 Tiahrt Amendments ............................................................................. 100 2.3 2013 Effort to Improve Knowledge ...................................................... 102 2.4 Change of Heart Since 1996 ................................................................ 103 2.5 Proposed Policy Statement .................................................................. 104 APPENDIX A Plain English Summary of Second Amendment Law ..................... 105 APPENDIX B Summary of New York SAFE Act .................................................... 110 APPENDIX B-1 Model Gun Show Procedures ........................................................ 115 APPENDIX C New York State Bar Association Task Force on Gun Violence List of Members ............................................................................................... 117 iii PRELIMINARY OVERVIEW Gun Violence in America Gun violence takes many forms, including highly visible and recurring mass shootings, chronic and endemic street violence in our cities, violence within families, suicides, and accidental shootings. The toll from gun violence is enormous: based on available data, over 30,000 people die from gunshot wounds each year in the United States.1 More than twice that number are shot each year but do not die from their wounds—some 66,000 to 78,000 people annually.2 Between 2001 and 2010, annual 1 FIREARM & INJURY CENTER AT PENN, FIREARM INJURY IN THE U.S. (Version 2011) (hereinafter “FIREARM INJURY IN THE U.S.”), at 5, COLLEGE OF URBAN AFFAIRS, CLEVELAND STATE UNIVERSITY, ADDING UP THE “BUTCHER’S BILL”: THE PUBLIC HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF AMERICA’S SYSTEM OF GUN REGULATION (Mar. 28, 2013) (hereinafter “ADDING UP THE ‘BUTCHER’S BILL’”) at 21, available at http://www.urban.csuohio.edu/publications/hill/ButchersBill_Hill_032813.pdf (reporting 32,000 people are killed each year by firearms from all causes: murder, suicide, accidental, lawful use of lethal force by law enforcement and a small number of undetermined killings). Annually, some 10,800 to 12,800 of those killed by gunshots are victims of firearm assault—homicide victims. ADDING UP THE “BUTCHER’S BILL” at 11, 21. Guns are responsible for 67% of all homicides in this country. FIREARM INJURY IN THE U.S. at 5. Firearm violence is the second leading cause of death for youth aged 15-24, surpassed only by car accidents and other unintentional injuries.