Robert Hunter v. Cortland Housing Authority, F. Supp. 3d ___(2024) (N.D.N.Y. Jan. 30, 2024)
Jan 30, 2024OUTCOME: Ongoing
Mr. Paltzik brought suit in the Northern District of New York on behalf of three public housing tenants and the Second Amendment Foundation against the Cortland [NY] Housing Authority and its Executive ... Director to challenge the Authority’s unconstitutional lease provision prohibiting public housing tenants from possessing firearms on Authority property. Mr. Paltzik, having filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to enjoin the Defendants from enforcing the lease provision, argued that public housing units are “home” to public housing tenants, and thus, under the Supreme Court’s landmark decision District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008)— in which the Supreme Court held that individuals have a fundamental right to possess handguns (and other firearms) in their homes—the Housing Authority’s firearms prohibition is unconstitutional. Mr. Paltzik also argued that, under the Supreme Court’s landmark decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen, 597 U.S. 1 (2022), which requires that the “government must affirmatively prove that its firearms regulation is part of the historical tradition that delimits the outer bounds of the right to keep and bear arms,” there is no American tradition of prohibiting firearms in the home, whether that home is on government property or otherwise. In addition, he also emphasized that public housing tenants do not lose their Second Amendment rights merely because they are poor or disabled and have no other viable housing options. After extensive briefing and oral argument, United States District Judge Glenn T. Suddaby agreed with Mr. Paltzik and granted a preliminary against the Defendants enjoining the Housing Authority’s firearms prohibition on firearms possession in the lease provision. The matter will now proceed to trial in early 2025.
