The Suffolk County Police Department (SCPD) received another blow against its pistol permit policies for violations of Suffolk County residents’ Second Amendment rights.
Judge Joanna Seybert just ruled against SCPD in Brett Milau’s Second Amendment case where Suffolk County used an unconstitutional policy to deny him a pistol permit.
SCPD has operated for some time under a policy where they seize firearms and revoke permits of lawful permit holders if anyone in the household is firearms disqualified.
The South Shore Press recently covered the LaMarco case where the SCPD entered into an agreement (consent decree) rather than suffer an embarrassing loss in court. SCPD agreed to reinstate the LaMarco’s permits, return their firearms, pay damages and costs, and to never use the unconstitutional SCPD policy against any other Suffolk County resident again. However, this case only carved out a portion of the SCPD policy.
Amy Bellantoni, Bellantoni Law Firm, a Second Amendment specialist was the attorney on both the LaMarco and Milau Cases.
“In the mental health arena this is a huge win overall because it says you cannot take any negative action against an individual based on the disqualification of someone they live with,” Bellantoni said.
Milau is an across the board victory declaring the entire SCPD policy of using a disqualified third party as a lever to keep another person from lawfully having a permit and firearm unconstitutional.
In the LaMarco case, a mental health transport call was the issue. In the Milau case, Bellantoni argues that “in 2017 and continuing to the present day Suffolk County violated his Second Amendment rights by refusing to issue him a pistol license based on his cohabitation with his son, who was prohibited from possessing firearms” for non-mental health reasons.
The Milau case challenged the constitutionality of a Suffolk County policy refusing pistol licenses to individuals who live with anyone statutorily prohibited from possessing firearms. To get a decision in their favor, Suffolk County had to “demonstrate that” the challenged policy “is constitutional in some of its applications.”
Suffolk County did not convince the court that their practices were consistent with the Second Amendment and summary judgment against them was granted to Milau. Financial damages will also be paid by Suffolk County.
Judge Seybert adopted the report and recommendation of United States Magistrate Steven Locke in its entirety with regard to First, Second, Fourth, and Fourteenth Amendment claims against the Suffolk County defendants.
When asked why Suffolk County didn’t move towards a settlement agreement in this case like they did in the LaMarco case, especially after the Magistrate Judge’s report was issued, Bellantoni said, “I think that they just didn't want to enter into anything that completely obliterated their policy.”
Bellantoni said that Suffolk County, “could appeal to the Second Circuit, but if you have now two judges that have said that their policy violates the Constitution in multiple ways, I don't really see any possible argument that the County would have to go forward with an appeal.”
The defendants in the Milau are: Suffolk County, County Commissioner Timothy Sini, Sgt William Walsh, Police Officer John Molinari of the Pistol Licensing Bureau, Captain William Scrima, and John Doe, Commanding Officer of the Suffolk County Property Section.