Gun rights advocates in New York failed in their last-minute attempts to halt a new state law making concealed-carry permits more difficult to obtain and banning guns from certain locations. 

Embedded in the court ruling against them, however, are signs that they might end up winning the war. 

The Second Amendment advocates had aimed to stop the implementation of New York’s new Concealed Carry Improvement Act before it took effect on Thursday. Although the court dismissed the advocates’ attempts to stop the implementation, the court expressed some sympathy for their case.

“While pursuing the laudable goal of public safety, and in an attempt to curb ever-increasing mass shootings, the New York State Legislature has generated an unconstitutional statute in the CIAA,” the Albany federal court judge, Glen Suddaby, wrote.

The phrase “unconstitutional statute” does not bode well for New York’s new laws, which change the requirements for applicants seeking concealed-carry permits and create a “sensitive location” regulation that allows officials to ban even legally carried weapons from some areas.

Specifically, the new law requires applicants to list their social media accounts from the last three years, disclose the names of anyone they live with, and provide at least four character references. They must also complete a 16-hour class in order to get a concealed-carry permit.

The “sensitive locations” portion of the law forbids firearms in certain places such as public transportation, libraries, bars, schools, and specific areas such as Times Square in New York City.

The senior vice president of Gun Owners of America, Erich Pratt, whose organization is a plaintiff in the case, expressed disappointment at the decision to allow the law to go into effect.

“Our attorneys are currently reviewing the judge’s decision and considering our options for next steps,” Mr. Pratt tells the Sun. “We do plan to move forward with this case.”

Mr. Pratt said he was optimistic about the case’s prospects going forward.

“Despite the judge’s dismissal of the complaint, his opinion contains a silver lining for New Yorkers and the nation, as the robust precedent laid out by the Supreme Court in June is clearly making headway,” Mr. Pratt said.

The decision came only hours after Governor Hochul and Mayor Adams held a New York City press conference touting the new laws.

While there, Ms. Hochul assured the audience that the thousands of New Yorkers who rushed to apply under the old rules but have not yet received their permits will be subject to the new, stricter regulations.

Mr. Adams went a step further, stating that police officers would conduct background checks on prospective gun owners similar to those that applicants to become police officers undergo.

“When I became a police officer, people knocked on my neighbor’s doors and interviewed them and asked what type of person am I,” he said Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

In New York City alone, there was a 54 percent increase in the number of concealed-carry applications ahead of the Thursday deadline. Across the state, the number of applications for concealed-carry permits tripled as gun owners came to understand that the new application process would likely be much more rigorous.