The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a gun law. New Yorkenacted more than a century ago, which placed restrictions on carrying a concealed weapon outside the home, a decision that marks the largest expansion of gun rights in a decade.
“Because New York State issues public transportation licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that this state licensing regime violates the Constitution,” Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in justifying the decision, voted in majority of 6-3 of the judges of the Court.
The opinion changes the framework and the rules that lower courts will have to take into account in the future as they consider other gun restrictionswhich could include the proposal currently before Congress if it eventually becomes law.
“The expansion of most of what the Second Amendment protects will have monumental ramifications far beyond carrying Firearms in public, on everything from age restrictions to assault weapons bans to limits on high-capacity magazines,” Steve Vladeck, an analyst and professor at the University of Texas, told the network. CNN.
What’s more, “a new series of lawsuits challenging any and all arms control measures await us in light of today’s ruling analysis,” Vladeck said.
Critics say the ruling will affect sensible solutions that they believe can curb gun violence in the United States.
Only about a half dozen states have laws similar to New York’s (California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey), but those states include some of the most densely populated cities in the country.
Twenty-five states generally allow people to carry concealed weapons in most public spaces without any permits, background checks or safety training, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Justice Thomas substantiated his opinion that, in the future, the government “cannot simply posit that regulation advances an important interest,” but that judges must look to the text and to history when deciding whether a law passes.
“Only if a firearms regulation is consistent with the historical tradition of this nation can a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the unconditional mandate of the Second Amendment,” Thomas said.
“We also agree, and now hold, in agreement with (former justices) Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense outside the home,” he added.
Upon hearing the news, President Joe Biden, who is working with Congress on gun control legislation, said he is “deeply disappointed” with the decision.
“This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should concern us all deeply,” Biden said in a statement. “In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as daily acts of gun violence that don’t make national headlines, we must do more as a society, not less, to protect our fellow citizens.”
In a dissent joined by the other liberal justices, Justice Stephen Breyer addressed the wave of gun violence in the country, saying the court listed several recent shootings, including the massacre at a Buffalo grocery store earlier this month. this year. Thursday’s ruling “severely burdens states’ efforts” to curb gun violence, Breyer said.
“The main difference between the Court’s view and my own is that I believe the Amendment allows states to take into account the serious problems posed by gun violence that I have just described,” he added. But, he said, “I fear that the Court’s interpretation ignores these significant dangers and leaves states without the ability to address them.”
For his part, Judge Samuel Alito responded: “And how does the dissent explain the fact that one of the mass shootings at the top of your list took place in Buffalo? The New York law at issue in this case obviously has no way of stopping that perpetrator.”
The conservative justices also dismissed concerns raised by supporters of New York’s gun law about how the rule restricted the carrying of firearms in sensitive locations.
