New York could really use a truth-in-labeling law for politicians. After the Bruen decision, Democrats passed the “Concealed Carry Improvement Act”, which made New York’s carry laws a whole lot worse. Now, Gov. Kathy Hochul is declaring the state will “remain a bastion for freedom and the rule of law” after Donald Trump takes office.

When it comes to the right to keep and bear arms, however, Hochul’s more interested in the “freedom” to infringe on the Second Amendment. 

Hochul announced her administration was creating an “Empire State Freedom Initiative” to resist any threats from Washington to abortion rights, LGBTQ rights, gun safety, immigration and other areas. She said those responses might take the form of legislation, regulations and budget expenses.

She said she welcomed working with Trump and his next administration to secure federal funding for New York transit projects and other infrastructure work, and for new microchip manufacturing under the 2022 CHIPS and Science act. 

“However, if you try to harm New Yorkers, or roll back their rights, I will fight you every step of the way,” she warned. “New Yorkers are resilient. We fought the first time around and we’ll fight again.”

It’s Hochul and her fellow Democrats who have tried to roll back the Second Amendment rights of New Yorkers. Before Bruen, there were few “sensitive places” off-limits to lawful concealed carry, but after the Supreme Court struck down the state’s “may issue” law that required concealed carry applicants to demonstrate a justifiable need to bear arms in self-defense, Hochul and her fellow Democrats did their utmost to turn the entire state into a “gun-free zone”. 

Now Hochul and New York Attorney General Letitia James are laughably claiming they’ll protect New Yorkers’ freedoms when they’re the ones who are treading all over the right to keep and bear arms. 

“New York will remain a bastion for freedom and rule of law,” Hochul said at a joint press conference with James in Manhattan. “And over the next coming weeks, and years, I’ll do everything in my power to ensure that New York remains a bastion from efforts where those rights are being denied in other states.”

Calling New York a bastion for freedom is like calling a double cheeseburger and fries health food. You can say it, but that doesn’t make it true. The Democrats in charge of the state had the opportunity to respect the Second Amendment, or at least recognize its importance, after Bruen. Instead, lawmakers in Albany responded to the Supreme Court’s decision in much the same way the state of Virginia reacted to Brown v. Board of Education in the 1950s; a campaign of massive resistance designed to thwart the Court’s edict instead of complying with it.

The Supreme Court told New York that legitimate “sensitive places” where lawful carry could be banned were few and far between. The State then declared all private property off-limits to concealed carry unless signage was specifically posted. The list of “gun-free zones” now includes public transportation, parks, all government buildings, houses of worship, establishments that serve alcohol, gatherings of individuals collectively exercising their right to protest or assemble, libraries, and Times Square, just to name a few. 

Lawmakers also raised the training requirements (and associated costs) to obtain a carry license and added several new requirements for applicants, including four character references, a list of former and current social media accounts going back three years, and an in-person interview of the applicant with the licensing authority. 

These measures weren’t meant to comply with Bruen, but to defy it. And while some of these restrictions have been put on hold by federal judges over the past two years, much of the Concealed Carry Improvement Act (which really should be called the Concealed Carry Infringement Act) is still in effect. 

Hochul has a funny idea of what “freedom” means when it comes to our Second Amendment rights, but she and other anti-gun politicians in New York are likely to get an education when the spate of lawsuits challenging the CCIA reaches the Supreme Court. Gun owners and Second Amendment advocates aren’t giving up the fight to restore the Second Amendment in the Empire State, and her “Freedom Initiative” won’t save her unconstitutional infringements from being struck down in the not-too-distant future.