I just went through the state required steps to get my hunting license in NY state. (Couldn’t get records from past states and it’s been years, so why not). Other then the fact that I was extremely upset on how lax the instructors were, at least now I have that “official” card that makes me, well, “official.”
During the course the NY state Pistol Permit came up, and the discussion on price increases. A random thought occurred to me when I got home.
Couldn’t you legally challenge the fees on a pistol permit based on the same premise as a ban on Poll Taxes using the 2nd Amendment, and past legal precedent regarding poll taxes as your argument? I’m no lawyer (at all), I just like finding loopholes in things. Anyway I figured if there was one place that had broad collective knowledge of both gun rights, and US laws it would be here. So what are your thoughts?
In my little ignorant world, I see these two excerpts from old SCOTUS decisions as relevant to your OP:
“No State shall convert a liberty into a privilege, license it, and charge a fee therefore.” -Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 US 105, US Supreme Court, 1943
We emphasized that the ‘inherent vice and evil’ of the flat license tax is that ‘it restrains in advance those constitutional liberties’ and ‘inevitably tends to suppress their exercise.’ 319 U.S. page 114, 63 S.Ct. page 875, 146 A.L.R. 81.-Follett vs. Town of McCormick, S.C., 321 U.S. 573 [1944]
Yes you could challenge it. Whether you prevail is another thing. Need to at least wait and see how SCOTUS rules on whether the 2nd Amendment is incorporated and applies to the states. Then you would have to convince the courts that the permit and fee, either by design or effect, deprive you of your right, rather than being reasonable regulation based on a compelling public interest.