Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative Democrats have taken a big swing with gun legislation passed during an extraordinary session of the state Legislature recently.

And it’s entirely possible that big swing comes up empty.

That’s because Democrats missed the U.S. Supreme Court’s most important holding in NYSPRA v. Bruen. They view the decision as opening the floodgates to gun ownership. But, as we opined shortly after the decision was announced, in our view the decision was as much about vague overreach on people’s rights as it was a statement in favor of more people owning guns.

The state’s response, then, was to take a framework of better defining where guns could be carried with a conceal carry permit and make that framework apply to as many buildings as possible to make it as difficult as possible to carry a concealed weapon. There will be strong opinions for and against the state’s response, but in our opinion the state’s response may not stand up to legal scrutiny.

Once again, state legislators passed a standard that is so vague that it could allow the same encroachments on conceal carry permits the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in Bruen. Not that it would do much good given the limitations the state has placed on where legally owned weapons could be carried, but the process to be granted a conceal carry permit under the state’s new framework means meeting a “good character standard.” What, exactly, does that mean? The law defines good moral character as “having the essential character, temperament and judgement necessary to be entrusted with a weapon and to use it only in a manner that does not endanger oneself or others.”

It is just as vague as the 1911 Sullivan Law’s requirement that those seeking conceal carry permits had to show proper cause to need a conceal carry permit for self-defense. What is the defining line to determine good character or judgement? New York’s new conceal carry permit law doesn’t explain how people seeking permits are going to be judged under the standard, giving tremendous leeway to who can and can’t be given a conceal carry permit in New York state. It could be the same fatal flaw the Supreme Court found in NYSPRA v. Bruen.

Should New York residents have expected anything else with such a hastily written and hastily reviewed piece of legislation?