Sweeping Federal Lawsuit Filed Challenging Cuomo Emergency Powers
2ANYS partners with The Firing Pin and other plaintiffs to aggressively fight Cuomo regime executive authority on constitutional grounds
Lawsuit Announced at RestartROC/OpenNY Rally in Rochester, NY
May 18, 2020 – BUFFALO, N.Y. – 2ANYS, New York State’s premier civilian rearmament enterprise securing maximal Second Amendment civil rights by, with, and through The People, has partnered with The Firing Pin, LLC of Bergen, N.Y. to launch a comprehensive lawsuit against members of the Cuomo regime, citing a myriad of emergency power abuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
READ THE LAWSUIT HERE
READ THE LAWSUIT HERE
The legal complaint, which also includes as plaintiffs LibertyMovement.Org CEO James Ostrowski, 2ANYS Founder Steve Felano, Rochester Radio Personality Shannon Joy, Erie County Libertarian Party Chair Duane Whitmer, Lisa Reeves of Ithaca, N.Y.-based Big Red Barbershop, and Monroe County, N.Y. Resident Seth Duclos, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York on Friday, May 15, 2020.
“The lawsuit is an action to vindicate the right of the plaintiffs to exercise various rights, including natural rights, protected by the U.S. Constitution,” LibertyMovement.Org CEO James Ostrowski said. “Such rights include free exercise of public and religious assembly under the First Amendment, the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment, the right to be free from unlawful seizures under the Fourth Amendment, the right to operate a business under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and the right secured by the Fifth, Ninth, Tenth and Fourteenth Amendments and the Guarantee Clause to be free of all restrictions unlawfully decreed by Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
At the core of the lawsuit is the compelling argument that all of Governor Cuomo’s emergency directives are unlawful, given that the New York State Constitution gives all legislative power to the legislature only. Flowing from this core complaint, the lawsuit contends that state government agents have:
- Unlawfully compelled firearms retailers to close;
- Illegally shutdown pistol permitting offices;
- Effectively and unlawfully banned the purchase of ammunition;
- Cancelled the right to public assembly;
- Nullified the free exercise of religion;
- Illegally compelled citizens to wear masks in public; and
- Unlawfully forced the closure of businesses
The defendants named in the lawsuit and sued individually and in their official capacities include:
- New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo;
- New York State Attorney General Letitia James;
- New York State Police Superintendent Keith M. Corlett;
- Monroe County, N.Y. Pistol Permit Licensing Officer Douglas A. Randall;
- Monroe County, N.Y. Sheriff Todd K. Baxter;
- Monroe County, N.Y. Clerk Jamie Romeo;
- New York State ‘PAUSE Enforcement Task Force’ Investigator Correa (who harassed employees of The Firing Pin and compelled the closure of the firearms retailer); and
- Empire State Development Corporation
The plaintiffs demand a jury trial of all issues raised in the lawsuit that can be addressed in a jury trial setting. They also request that the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York:
- Assume jurisdiction of the matter;
- Enter judgment against the defendants and in favor of the plaintiffs;
- Enter a declaratory judgment that the actions of the defendants described are null and void given that they violate the U.S. Constitution;
- Issue preliminary and permanent injunctions enjoining state government agents from administration and enforcement of the illegal provisions outlined in the lawsuit;
- Award each plaintiff compensatory damages, including prejudgment interest on any out of pocket damages;
- Impose punitive damages against each individual defendant;
- Award plaintiffs all costs and disbursements incurred in the prosecution of the lawsuit; and
- Grant such other and further relief as may be proper
“New York State government agents have been successful in leveraging the COVID-19 pandemic to achieve an illegal and complete cancellation of the Second Amendment,” 2ANYS Founder Steve Felano said. “This has been made possible via a combination of pre-existing, unconstitutional regulation and recent COVID-19 shutdown mandates forcing the closure of firearms manufacturers, retailers, and pistol permitting offices. This farce ends today and is proof positive that government agents cannot be trusted to responsibly regulate civilian Second Amendment exercise without effectively and unlawfully eviscerating the fundamental human right to keep and bear arms. Therefore, I argue that New York State government has voluntarily relinquished its public mandate to regulate civilian Second Amendment exercise, and that the entire state civilian disarmament industrial complex – to include the SAFE Act, pistol permitting regime, red flag disarmament, and sum total of gun control imperial edicts – should be declared constitutionally null and void.”
To learn more about any of the above, please contact Steve Felano at 888-763-5345 or [email protected].
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2ANYS is New York State’s premier civilian rearmament enterprise securing maximal Second Amendment civil rights by, with, and through The People. At the tip of the spear in the fight against progressive gun control, their innovative strategies expand non-compliance with, and non-enforcement and repeal of, Albany’s imperial disarmament edicts. 2ANYS promotes a strong martial culture across New York State through firearms proficiency development, combat tactics training, and firearms industry events. The enterprise actively educates the public on the immense successes delivered by America’s Second Amendment, and the deplorable suffering imposed by governments that forcefully disarm their citizens. By, with, and through The People, 2ANYS will defeat Albany’s unconstitutional civilian disarmament industrial complex, and pass that victory on to the next generation to defend as their own. Learn more at WWW.2ANYS.COM.