SCOTUS Just Made it Easier for People to Pack Heat in Public

06/23/2022 Ms. G SCOTUS 0

As our country grapples with daily mass shootings and numerous lives lost because of gun violence in our communities, the US Supreme Court just “struck down a restrictive New York gun law in a major ruling for gun rights.”

According to the Associated Press:

The justices’ 6-3 decision is expected to ultimately allow more people to legally carry guns on the streets of the nation’s largest cities — including New York, Los Angeles and Boston — and elsewhere. About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states expected to be affected by the ruling, the high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade.

The ruling comes as Congress is actively working on gun legislation following recent mass shootings in Texas,New York and California.

In their decision, the justices struck down a New York law requiring people to demonstrate a particular need for carrying a gun in order to get a license to carry one in public. The justices said the requirement violates the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”

Justice Thomas wrote the majority opinion.

NPR:

Writing for the conservative majority, Justice Thomas said: “The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different. New York’s proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”

Writing for the court’s three liberals, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote: “In applying that approach to New York’s law, the Court fails to correctly identify and analyze the relevant historical facts. Only by ignoring an abundance of historical evidence supporting regulations restricting the public carriage of firearms can the Court conclude that New York’s law is not “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”

Not only will this ruling affect New York, California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island all have similar laws.

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