The Supreme Court has issued its first major Second Amendment ruling in more than a decade and it is a win for gun owners.
Fox News reports that the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that New York’s restrictions on guns made it too difficult to obtain a license to carry a firearm for law-abiding gun owners.
New York’s law required an applicant show “proper cause” for obtaining a carry permit and the Supreme Court ruled that was too restrictive.
“In this case, petitioners and respondents agree that ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a similar right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense. We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the Court’s opinion. “Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution.”
The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, was the first major gun rights case before the Supreme Court in more than a decade.
Kavanaugh in his concurring opinion wrote, “Why isn’t it good enough to say I live in a violent area and I want to defend myself?”
In an exchange with Justice Samuel Alito, New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood recognized that if an applicant stated that the leave work late at night and have to walk from a subway station through a high-crime neighborhood to get home, that person would be denied because they did not cite a specific threat.
“How is that consistent with the core right to self-defense?” Alito asked, stating that this is at the core of the Second Amendment.
You can read the opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas by clicking HERE.
