U.S. Supreme Court expands gun rights, strikes down New York law
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[June 24, 2022]
By Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Supreme Court on
Thursday declared for the first time that the U.S. Constitution protects
an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense,
handing a landmark victory to gun rights advocates in a nation deeply
divided over how to address firearms violence.
The 6-3 ruling, with the conservative justices in the majority and
liberal justices in dissent, struck down New York state's limits on
carrying concealed handguns outside the home. The court found that the
law, enacted in 1913, violated a person's right to "keep and bear arms"
under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment.
The ruling, authored by Justice Clarence Thomas, could undermine similar
restrictions in other states and imperil other types of state and local
firearms restrictions nationwide.
Thomas wrote: "We know of no other constitutional right that an
individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers
some special need."
Gun rights, held dear by many Americans and promised by the country's
18th century founders, are a contentious issue in a nation with high
levels of firearms violence including numerous mass shootings. Just in
recent weeks, 19 children and two teachers were killed on May 24 at an
elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and 10 people were slain on May 14
at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York.
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President Joe Biden, who has called gun violence a national
embarrassment, condemned the decision.
"This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and
should deeply trouble us all," Biden said. "In the wake of the horrific
attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as the daily acts of gun violence
that do not make national headlines, we must do more as a society - not
less - to protect our fellow Americans."
Liberal Justice Stephen Breyer wrote in dissent that the court expanded
gun rights without coming to grips with the "nature or severity" of
firearms violence in a country with more guns per person than any other.
Breyer said the ruling leaves states without the ability to address
"significant dangers."
The justices overturned a lower court ruling throwing out a challenge to
the law by two gun owners and the New York affiliate of the National
Rifle Association (NRA), an influential gun rights group closely aligned
with Republicans.
Thursday's ruling underscored how the court's conservative majority is
sympathetic to an expansive reading of Second Amendment rights.
It represented the court's most important statement on gun rights in
more than a decade. The court in 2008 recognized for the first time an
individual's right to keep guns at home for self-defense in a District
of Columbia case, and in 2010 applied that right to the states.
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'ABSOLUTELY SHOCKING'
New York Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, called the ruling
"absolutely shocking." New York City Mayor Eric Adams said officials
will review licensing policies and how sensitive locations are defined,
adding: "we cannot allow New York to become the Wild West."
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![](../images/062422PIX/news_u47.jpg)
Guns are displayed after a gun buyback event organized by the New
York City Police Department (NYPD), in the Queens borough of New
York City, U.S., June 12, 2021. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Jun/24/images/ads/current/graue_21BLAZER_081621.png)
Under the New York law, applicants seeking an
unrestricted concealed carry permits needed to convince a state
licensing officer of an actual, rather than speculative, need for
self-defense. Most applicants received unrestricted licenses. These
were granted more freely in rural areas than densely populated New
York City. Officials could also grant licenses restricted to
activities such as hunting or target practice.
The ruling clarified how courts must now assess
whether regulations are valid under the Second Amendment, requiring
them to be comparable with restrictions traditionally adopted
throughout U.S. history. New York's concealed firearm regime failed
that test, Thomas wrote.
Gun control advocates feared the ruling could undermine gun measures
such as "red flag" laws targeting the firearms of people deemed
dangerous by the courts, expanded criminal background checks for gun
buyers or restrictions on selling untraceable "ghost" guns assembled
from components purchased online. They also feared it could
jeopardize gun bans in sensitive places such as airports, hospitals
and schools.
The ruling will directly affect at least six states - New York,
California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey as well
as the District of Columbia - that let officials decide whether
people can carry concealed handguns in public even if they pass
criteria such as criminal background checks. Connecticut, Delaware
and Rhode Island also give officials some discretion.
The ruling lets states prohibit guns in "sensitive places," likely
beyond locations such as courthouses and legislative buildings those
that historically met that definition. Thomas wrote that courts "can
use analogies to those historical regulations" of sensitive places.
But Breyer asked: "So where does that leave the many locations in a
modern city with no obvious 18th- or 19th-century analogue? What
about subways, nightclubs, movie theaters and sports stadiums? The
court does not say."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2017/Jul/22/images/ads/current/rohlfs_lda_072017.png)
Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol
Association, the NRA's state affiliate, told Reuters he would like
to see as few places deemed "sensitive" as possible, and would file
legal challenges if, for example, officials tried to ban weapons on
subways or buses.
Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh in a concurring opinion said
states can still impose requirements on people seeking licenses to
carry firearms including fingerprinting, background checks, mental
health checks and firearms training classes.
In another concurring opinion, conservative Justice Samuel Alito
disputed that gun regulations like New York's would deter mass
shootings such as the Buffalo massacre.
"The New York law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that
perpetrator," Alito wrote.
(Reporting by Andrew Chung and Lawrence Hurley; Additional reporting
by Jonathan Allen; Editing by Will Dunham)
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