SCOTUS: April 21 Conference
Mark your calendars! The U.S. Supreme Court is taking Gazzola v. Hochul into conference on Friday, April 21 for determination of our Rule 11 Petition for Writ of Certiorari Before Judgment. The results will be announced Monday, April 24 at 9:30 a.m. Check back HERE for results on the SCOTUS website.
The Court will either say “GRANTED” or denied. (Or “held over” for an additional, future conference.)
We are thrilled to be on the conference calendar. At first blush, it means that our papers were in proper form, accepted by the Clerk of Court, and distributed to the Justices. “Rule 11” means that, in addition to the legal issues we put in front of the court, we added a level of intensity that our case is (a.) of imperative public importance; (b.) that justifies deviation from standard appellate practice; and, (c.) requires immediate determination.
The most important issue we raise is the need for an immediate stay against NY General Business Law s.875-f, which requires, as of April 2023, that all NYS-licensed dealers turn over copies to the NYS Police of their federal firearms compliance records from their books of Acquisition & Disposition. The “A&D Book,” as it’s called in the industry, includes an entry by the FFL dealer of every firearm that comes into their inventory and how that firearm is disposed, including, if sold or transferred to an individual customer, including the critical personal information that matches to the ATF Form 4473.
In the history of this great nation, no politician has ever dared to make a smash-and-grab for these critical records. It is illegal for even the U.S. Attorney General to have these records, with limited exceptions at federal law, e.g., a federal criminal warrant for an individual customer transaction and/or firearm by serial number.
These FFL federal records are the very records that, if amassed, would create the first-ever gun owners’ registry.
We’ve been fighting since November 8, 2022 to win a stay of this and associated NYS laws that went into effect December 5, 2022. Stay tuned for this most important procedural ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court, coming Monday, April 24, 2023.
Will you join the fight? If you’d like to read more, please help yourself to a free download of our Reply Brief, submitted April 3. To learn more about our case – and the four other cases pending at the Second Circuit – please grab a copy of my newest White Paper “Hochul’s War: The Fuse Is Lit.” 100% of the net proceeds goes towards expenses in the case. And, if you are inspired to contribute as we pass the hat, thanks for that, too! Thank you for every way you’re helping us make the case!
