The state of New York, in an emergency session Friday, passed a new gun law in response to the US Supreme Court ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down some key parts of the requirements for the carrying of concealed firearms in the state. The new law removes the “proper cause” criterion, which required that the applicant prove the need for their permit before receiving it. The Supreme Court ruled that this 100-year-old requirement gave too much discretion to officials.

The new law requires that applicants meet with a licensing officer for an interview, provide emergency contact information, and it maintains the “good character” requirements. The law goes further by banning weapons in places of a “sensitive” nature, including government buildings, schools, public transit, hospitals, group homes, nursing homes, and medical facilities, among others. It specifically includes a weapons ban in Times Square.

New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D) celebrated the passage, saying:

Today, the Assembly Majority passed legislation to assure New Yorkers that despite the dangerous and disturbing decision by the Supreme Court to dismantle our more than 100-year-old sensible concealed carry law, we will not accept tragedies like the racist shooting in Buffalo or the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas as the cost of access to firearms. This Supreme Court may prioritize access to guns over the lives of our loved ones, but we do not. We will not allow this country’s gross fascination with guns to force us to live in fear.

In a statement, National Rifle Association state director Darin Hoens condemned the move, saying, “Gov. Hochul and her anti-Second Amendment allies in Albany have defied the United States Supreme Court with an intentionally malicious rewriting of New York’s concealed carry law.”