Supreme Court strikes down New York gun law based on Second Amendment

The Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision on Thursday struck down a New York state law that requires applicants to have a “reasonable reason” to carry a concealed gun with a license, saying it would Violates the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

New York State Rifle and Pistol Association Inc. The ruling in the case known as V. Bruen is a major victory for gun rights advocates who challenged New York’s restrictive law that makes it a crime to carry a concealed firearm without a license.

It also represents the Supreme Court’s largest extension of gun rights in more than a decade and casts doubt on laws in eight other states and the District of Columbia that prohibit concealed-carry permits in a similar manner to New York.

Six conservative Supreme Court justices voted to invalidate the law, which has been in existence for more than a century, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion in the case.

Three liberals on the court voted to uphold the law, with Justice Stephen Breuer writing a dissenting opinion on the decision.

The majority held that New York’s law violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which states that citizens have the right to equal protection under the laws, “allowing law-abiding citizens to keep and possess arms with normal self-defense needs.” bar from exercising his Second Amendment right to self-defense publicly.”

Democratic elected officials in New York quickly condemned the decision, which they said would threaten public safety.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul, Democrat, wrote, “It is outrageous that nationally on gun violence, the Supreme Court has recklessly struck down a New York law that limits people who can carry concealed weapons. “

The case was brought by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association and two of its members, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, whose applications for concealed-carry handgun licenses for self-defense purposes were rejected.

New York Supreme Court Justice Richard McNally, who handled both requests, ruled that neither person had shown a reasonable reason to carry guns in public because they failed to demonstrate that they had a special need for self-protection. .

The plaintiffs then challenged that refusal in a federal court in New York, arguing that state laws governing concealed-carry licenses, which allow them only if “its issuance reasonable cause exists,” violates the Second Amendment to the US Constitution. The law also required applicants to be of “good moral character”.

After a federal judge in New York dismissed the case, the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision. The US Supreme Court then took up the case.

Thomas wrote in his majority opinion that New York’s just-caused requirement, as interpreted by state courts, was inconsistent with “the nation’s history of firearms regulation”.

Thomas wrote, “A state cannot prohibit law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns in public because they have not demonstrated a special need for self-defense.”

But Breuer wrote in his dissent, “Many states have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence, described by passing laws limiting the number of different types of firearms that can be bought, carried, and or use.”

“The Court today places a serious burden on the efforts of the States to do so,” Breuer wrote.

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