A traffic sign in New York City announces Times Square as a gun free zone, a law being taken on by a Pennsylvania man. AP file photo

Chautauqua County’s proximity to Pennsylvania has landed Sheriff Jim Quattrone in the middle of the latest attempt to overturn New York’s Conceal Carry Improvement Act.

Four Pennsylvania residents who are members of the Firearms Policy Coalition Inc. filed suit earlier this week in the U.S. District Court in Buffalo against three border county sheriff’s and one county clerk, including Quattrone, over their adherence to the state’s laws limiting concealed carry permits to state residents. The lawsuit doesn’t allege that Quattrone has violated state law in any way, but argues that following state law is in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The Pennsylvania residents say the U.S. Constitution allows them to carry their weapons in New York state, but the state’s Conceal Carry Improvement Act requires licensing officers like Quattrone to only grant conceal carry licenses to carry a pistol or to take possession of a semiautomatic rifle to the city or county where the applicant resides, is principally employed or has a principal place of business. They are asking the court to declare the non-resident ban unconstitutional under the Second and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution as well as Article 4 of the U.S. Constitution. They ask the court to allow non-residents to apply for and receive a concealed carry permit in New York.

“With few exceptions (inapplicable here) New York does not recognize or otherwise give effect to either the firearm licensing decisions made by other states or the findings underlying those decisions,” the lawsuit states. “As a result of the ban, most non-residents who visit New York, whether occasionally or regularly, are ineligible to apply for any New York state firearms license, and so are prohibited from carrying or possessing loaded, operable firearms and semi-automatic rifles in New York. Thus, the individual plaintiffs, other similarly situated FPC members, and many other non-residents are barred from lawfully possessing or carrying a firearm in public for self-defense when they visit New York.”

The lawsuit states that under the precedent set in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, the state has to prove its firearms regulation is part of a historical tradition, which the lawsuit argues can’t be done with the non-resident ban on receiving a conceal carry permit.

Plaintiff Matthew Shaffer, a member of the Firearms Policy Council, lives in Darlington, Pa., north of Pittsburgh, but is a regular visitor to Chautauqua County while staying with relatives in Sugar Grove. The lawsuit states they shop for groceries and eat out in Lakewood and Jamestown, visit extended family in Jamestown and visit other family members in Erie. Shafer has a concealed carry permit in Pennsylvania and, according to the lawsuit, meets the criteria for a New York firearms permit.

“As a result, on his many trips into New York from Sugar Grove, Plaintiff Shaffer leaves his firearm in Pennsylvania so as to not risk criminal charges, and is thus deprived of his rights under the Second Amendment,” the lawsuit states. “Were Plaintiff Shaffer permitted to apply for a permit, Shaffer would do so, receive a permit, and exercise his Second Amendment rights while traveling to, in, or through New York.”