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Judge bars Nassau County from requiring urine test, social media check for handgun applicant
By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 24, 2024
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By
Samantha Max
Published Feb 24, 2024
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A state judge on Long Island has ruled that the Nassau County Police Department cannot require a pistol license applicant to undergo a urine drug test or turn over a list of his social media accounts.
Justice James P. McCormack said both local requirements are unconstitutional in a 14-page decision, and ordered the department to reconsider Nassau County resident Joseph Kamenshchik’s application within 30 days.
While the ruling only applies to Kamenshchik and not every person who applies for a concealed carry permit, it could have further reach if county officials appeal the decision.
The case marks the latest in a series of legal battles playing out across New York as Second Amendment advocates challenge local permitting rules and the state’s strict gun licensing measures.
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen struck down the state’s more than 100-year-old gun permitting scheme, lawmakers passed a host of application requirements, including in-person interviews, 18 hours of training, and a demonstration of “good moral character.”
The high court’s ruling and the state’s new gun law, the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, have prompted a flood of lawsuits, many of which are still moving through the court system. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have both vowed to defend the act, which they say keeps New Yorkers safe by preventing gun violence.
A spokesperson for Nassau County did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
Kamenshchik said in an interview that he doesn't object to the new application criteria laid out in state law, but rather the county's licensing system. He said it goes “way above” what the state requires — particularly the urinalysis mandate.
“I have to pull down my pants in order to exercise a constitutional right,” Kamenshchik said. “That seems a little bit excessive.”
McCormack ruled the requirement for a urine screening conflicted with the Supreme Court’s guidance in the Bruen case with and a subsequent decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He also noted the appellate court rejected the state's social media requirement last year.
Fears during the pandemic
Kamenshchik, who is an employment attorney, said he didn’t closely follow Second Amendment law until recently. He said he began thinking about arming himself to protect his family in case the nation descended into a violent economic depression at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But he decided to hold off because the application process seemed like a headache.
The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling on the New York gun law came afterward. The court found it to be overly burdensome and New York was ordered to make it easier for people to get a license for having a gun in public.
Kamenshchik said he became hopeful that he could legally and safely carry a firearm for self-defense.
“But, you know, lo and behold, it seems like it got a little bit tougher,” he said.
Kamenshchik's lawsuit detailed a long list of challenges he said he has faced since attempting to apply for a concealed carry pistol permit in September 2022. He said police officials refused to accept the state’s standard application form and told him he had to complete county-specific paperwork. He also said there was a nearly nine-month wait for an appointment to get fingerprinted, as required by the application.
Kamenshchik also objected to other requirements he considered “subjective, duplicative, overly broad and burdensome,” including a requirement for applicants to provide a list of character references who have known them for at least a year.
'You have to nip it in the bud'
The Nassau County Police Department denied Kamenshchik's application last October, citing his failure to submit several requirements, including a notarized statement declaring whether any minors live in his home, a list of his social media accounts and a urinalysis.
McCormack, the state judge, said Kamenshchik would still need to submit one missing piece of paperwork — a list of his cohabitants — and gave him 30 days to comply.
Karl Seman, a Long Island attorney who has represented gun owners in Second Amendment cases, said many of his clients have faced similar obstacles when applying for concealed carry permits in Nassau County. In addition to the police department’s strict requirements to obtain a license, he said long waits infringe on people’s rights.
New York legally requires licensing agencies to accept or reject an application within six months, unless there’s a “good cause” reason for delay. In his ruling, McCormack scheduled a hearing for next month to question the police commissioner about whether the licensing unit’s fingerprinting policies have caused “an unconstitutionally and unnecessarily long wait."
“Can municipalities indirectly deny the right of gun ownership by just simply delaying and taking a long time to process the application?” Seman said. “That I imagine will be the next challenge.”
Several gun owners have already sued the NYPD, arguing a massive backlog in New York City’s licensing division “paralyzes” applicants who want to lawfully carry firearms. That case is still pending in federal court in Manhattan.
Kamenshchik's family immigrated from the former Soviet Union, and he said he feels a duty to challenge what he sees as constitutional violations.
“Otherwise the government will continue going down that path, and then it becomes a problem in the future,” he said. “You have to nip it in the bud.”
Tagged
public safety
long island
nassau county
gun rights
Samantha Max
Samantha reports on whether New Yorkers feel safe and whether the institutions that are supposed to protect them are working. Before coming to WNYC/Gothamist, she spent three years covering the criminal justice system in Tennessee for Nashville Public Radio. Her reporting on Nashville's police department received multiple awards, including the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize. Samantha was also part of the inaugural class of Report for America, a service journalism program that sends up-and-coming reporters to local newsrooms across the country. She is a Northwestern University grad, a Baltimore native and fluent in Spanish. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal: samanthamaxwnyc.93.
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