body: I was always sort of told that the constitutionality of a law could not be tested except by a "real" case. In other words, you had to violate a law to get it tested in court, and thereby risk jail time or other criminal penalties.
  
  
  However, I saw today that somebody in New York seems to have found a way to test the constitutionality of a law without breaking it. [In the news article it says he is the "plaintiff", not a defendant, so apparently there is a way to sue to challenge a law's constitutionality](https://13wham.com/news/state/federal-court-says-ny-ban-on-nunchucks-unconstitutional). Is this something particular to New York, or is it possible to do whatever this guy did in other states, too?
  
  
  
title: Test law for constitutionality without risking jail?