Add another one to the pile. This time, it’s the NY State Rifle and Pistol Association, along with just about every other NY-based firearms organization they could scrounge up that have filed a lawsuit against Governor Cuomo and his cronies in an effort to stop the SAFE Act from being enforced. You can read their full text of the filing here — it largely follows the same formula that the Tresmond case laid out, but I’ll give you the highlights anyway . . .
In the section arguing that magazine restrictions are unconstitutional:
91. Magazines that have a capacity of more than 7 or 10 rounds of ammunition are commonly possessed by law-abiding citizens throughout the United States for self defense, target shooting, hunting, and other lawful purposes. Such magazines are useful for militia purposes.Many firearms are designed for and sold with magazines that hold more than 7 or 10 rounds.
92. The need for and usefulness of magazines holding more than 7 or 10 rounds forlawful defense of self and others is demonstrated by the fact that they are issued to law enforcement officers. Criminals have and use magazines without any limitation in capacity. The Act‟s provisions on magazines put law-abiding citizens at a grave disadvantage to criminals, who will notcomply with the seven-round limit.
93. The Act‟s limitation of magazine capacity to 7 rounds or 10 rounds, depending onwhen they were obtained, and the Act‟s prohibition on loading more than 7 rounds in any magazine,facially and as applied, infringe on the right of the people, including plaintiffs, to keep and beararms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment, and as made applicable to the States by theFourteenth Amendment, of the United States Constitution.
Arguing that magazines are applicable for self defense situations by pointing out that the police use them was a nice touch. They go on to illustrate how low capacity magazines are detrimental to self defense, using the home invasion scenario as an illustrative example. Also how people normally don’t carry multiple magazines when they head to bed.
They used the same argument as Tresmond about the “assault weapons,” namely that the definition includes almost every commonly owned firearm, and therefore is unconstitutional.
As for the ammunition sale restrictions, they use an interesting argument: requiring ammunition stores to register with the NY State Police and only allow sales to NY residents from those stores violates the “dormant commerce clause.” It then regulates and restricts what was previously a booming interstate commerce in ammunition, a privilege reserved for the federal government.