Cuomo Sentries Refuse to Accept Federal Lawsuit Papers
During day-long Second Amendment advocacy program, 2ANYS delivers lawsuit papers to Cuomo and State Police, calls for gun control non-enforcement, and seeks answers in Rensselaer County gun arrest
June 12, 2020 – ALBANY, N.Y. – 2ANYS, New York State’s premier civilian rearmament enterprise securing maximal Second Amendment civil rights by, with, and through The People, completed a multi-event Second Amendment advocacy program in Albany yesterday.
A key focus of Thursday’s advocacy effort involved serving Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York State Police Superintendent Keith Corlett with notification that they are subjects of a federal lawsuit. Proper service of lawsuit notification is important because it officially establishes jurisdiction over the defendant. Once a party is properly served, he must appear in court.
Unfortunately, state sentries guarding entry into the New York State Capitol Building refused to accept lawsuit papers on Cuomo’s behalf, or attempt to contact members of his staff who could properly accept the documents. In stark contrast, an official at State Police Headquarters in Albany amicably accepted lawsuit papers on Corlett’s behalf.
“We’re disappointed that Cuomo’s sentries refused to accept lawsuit papers on his behalf, or assist us in the required service process in any way,” 2ANYS Founder Steve Felano said. “The sentries cited concerns over COVID-19 transmission as reason for refusing the necessary legal documents. However, they happily accepted a food order from a delivery employee, the edible contents of which could transmit COVID-19 far more easily than a collection of inedible paper documents. The judgement of state sentries in this instance was just as arbitrary and unlawful as Cuomo’s numerous executive orders that will apparently micromanage New Yorkers’ lives until the governor decides to vacate his self-appointed position as supreme ruler of the state.”
Given that state sentries refused to accept lawsuit papers, 2ANYS will request federal court permission to serve Cuomo by mail.
Cuomo and Corlett are two of several defendants cited in a federal lawsuit 2ANYS filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of N.Y. on Friday, May 15, 2020 challenging Cuomo regime executive authority on constitutional grounds. The lawsuit also challenges the wholesale cancellation of the Second Amendment in New York State via combined application of the unconstitutional pistol permitting regime and Cuomo’s COVID-19 emergency powers. Corlett oversees enforcement of both, hence his status as a defendant in the 2ANYS federal lawsuit. 2ANYS filed a motion for preliminary injunction on June 5, 2020 to expedite court review of their legal action. Donations to support the lawsuit can be made at: WWW.2ANYS.COM/COVID
Prior to their effort to deliver lawsuit notifications to Cuomo and Corlett, 2ANYS held a press conference before the New York State Capitol Building steps calling for police agencies to commit to a formal policy of gun control non-enforcement.
As the left continues efforts to ‘abolish’, ‘defund’, and otherwise weaken law enforcement, police agencies will look to Second Amendment supporters for backing. 2ANYS outlined yesterday what will be required of law enforcement leadership for the Second Amendment community to support traditional notions of a police force moving forward.
The central message from the Second Amendment community is that only those police agencies whose leadership publicly commit to a formal policy of non-enforcement of ALL state gun control statutes should be viewed as legitimate. Those agencies with leadership refusing to commit to such a formal policy should, in fact, be defunded or abolished as they are simply contributing to further civil rights infringements across the state.
2ANYS demands that police agencies, and state government as a whole, comply with the 2008 D.C. v. Heller U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that only those convicted of felonies and/or involuntarily committed for mental health reasons can be denied firearms ownership by the government. Therefore, all New York State gun control statutes applying restrictions beyond this standard are unconstitutional and thus illegal.
As 2ANYS explained yesterday, it is time for law enforcement leadership to give the Second Amendment community what it has been demanding since 2013: total non-enforcement of unconstitutional gun control statutes and the end of New York State’s civilian disarmament industrial complex. Anything less is unacceptable.
Concluding their Second Amendment advocacy day, 2ANYS held a press conference outside the Rensselaer County Courthouse to call for answers from the Rensselaer District Attorney regarding the June 7, 2020 arrest of Fort Drum Soldier Noah Latham near a Black Lives Matter rally in Troy, N.Y.
According to the Albany Times Union, Latham was allegedly in possession of a pistol manufactured from an unserialized 80 percent lower receiver, and was thus charged with a felony count of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon carrying a sentence of up to 15 years in state prison. However, numerous questions remain surrounding how Troy Police came to determine that Latham was in possession of a pistol in the first place, if any associated searches and seizures were lawfully conducted, and if charging Latham under New York State’s pistol permitting regime was even lawful under the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court D.C. v. Heller decision.
“The first question I have regarding this situation is ‘why did Troy Police intercept and detain Mr. Latham in the first place?’” 2ANYS Founder Steve Felano said. “Without seeing the full police report, which I really need to receive from law enforcement, we don’t know if Mr. Latham was open carrying a pistol or not. If he was not, it appears, based on reporting by the Times Union, Mr. Latham was intercepted due to vague reports of men wearing ‘military-style clothing’ in public. This is not a crime, and a report to that effect does not satisfy the burden of probable cause required to search a person or their possessions, which would be required to gain knowledge of a concealed pistol. The only crime Mr. Latham appears to be guilty of is carrying a pistol without permission of or registration by the imperial crown of New York State. This is an imaginary crime that is violative of the U.S. Constitution, and it is very possible that we’re dealing with an instance of illegal search and seizure here by Troy Police. I need to review the full police report and associated documents to be sure and, at a time when a majority of the country is literally questioning the very legitimacy of police as we know them, I expect the relevant law enforcement agencies to be transparent and turn over the records for 2ANYS review. If they refuse, we must question what civil rights violations they may be hiding.”
To learn more about any of the above, please contact Steve Felano at 888-763-5345 or [email protected].
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.