Like many blue states, New York does its level best to find ways to defy Supreme Court rulings - something we're told is very bad when it comes to ejecting illegal aliens, but is apparently acceptable when it comes to law-abiding citizens' right to self-defense.  

New York representatives Elise Stefanik and Claudia Tenney want to bring Pam Bondi's Department of Justice in to look into this pattern of defiance of due process.   They've written a letter to the DOJ, laying out the ways the State of New York is defying the high court, and asking for an investigation. 

Gun control provisions during the Hochul administration have included more background checks, training courses, and interviews for permits and banning guns in certain places, like parks and private property open to the public. Stefanik and Tenney cited three rulings to argue that New York acted “in direct defiance” of the U.S. Supreme Court when banning semiautomatic rifles, requiring handgun registrations, and limiting magazines to 10 rounds.

As they tell it, in 2008, SCOTUS ruled in “DC v. Heller” that “arms in common-use” can’t be banned, and semiautomatic rifles are popular in New York. Plus, Justice Antonin Scalia categorized handguns and semiautomatic rifles as common use. The court also held that individuals have a right to own guns for self-defense, but that ruling applied only to federal laws in Washington, D.C.

The letter also claims Hochul's policies violate the 2011 McDonald v. City of Chicago ruling which incorporated the consequences of the Heller ruling onto the states, and the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen case, requiring any gun control laws to conform to the historical tradition of gun ownership.  

Which would gut-punch some of Governor Hochul's premiere gun control initiatives; magazine limits, and especially mandatory gun registration, would both be in jeopardy.   And the state's regulations on civilian carry permits - with persnickety training permits, and state evaluation of an applicant' social media presence - might very well also face a long walk off a short pier, given that they were a specific subject of the Bruen decision.  

No word yet on whether the DOJ will get involved:

Bondi’s office has not yet commented on whether they’ll open a federal inquiry. It’s possible that the DOJ will file suit under Section 241 of Title 18 of the United States Code. That section “makes it unlawful for two or more persons to agree to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in the United States in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or because of his or her having exercised such a right,” according to the DOJ.

There is, of course, politics involved:  while New York City is a blue political albatross on the state's back, New York state has many of the same red blue divides as the rest of the country.  Upstate New Yorkers, not to mention Long Islanders, vote much more read than many of us west of the Ohio River might assume.   And they are tired of having their civil rights squashed by the overweening nanny-city:

“New York Democrats have made it their mission to punish gun ownership while doing little to increase accountability on criminals pulling the trigger. They’ve driven manufacturers away, they’ve undermined the Second Amendment, and they’re not stopping,” said New York Assembly Republican Leader Will Barclay when reached for comment on Friday. “Legal gun owners—the hunters, the people who take safety courses and obtain firearms through the permitting process—aren’t the problem in New York. But it’s law-abiding gun owners who have felt the brunt of the state’s overzealous regulations.”

Governor Hochul appears likely to run for re-election - and Rep. Stefanik appears likely to run against her; this is a solid red-meat issue for wedging the rest of the state away from the City.