U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down New York Gun Restrictions

In its first major Second Amendment decision in a decade, the U.S. Supreme Court has struck down a New York state law making it extremely difficult for law-abiding gun owners to obtain a carry permit. The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen et al. CLICK HERE to read the decision (135-page PDF). The case was a 6-3 decision, with justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor dissenting.

In the majority opinion of the Court, Justice Clarence Thomas concluded: “The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees’. We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need. That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant’s right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense.

New York’s proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment in that it prevents law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

In a concurring opinion, Justice Alito criticized the comments of dissenting justices, and stated: “All that we decide in this case is that the Second Amendment protects the right of law-abiding people to carry a gun outside the home for self-defense and that the Sullivan Law, which makes that virtually impossible for most New Yorkers, is unconstitutional.”

The Hill reports: “The decision to invalidate New York’s law throws into question the legality of similar restrictions in more than a half dozen other states that give licensing officials wide discretion over concealed carry permitting.

The New York law at issue required concealed carry permit applicants to demonstrate a special need for a license, beyond a basic desire for self-defense. In striking down the law, the court’s conservatives ruled that the so-called ‘proper-cause requirement’ prevented ‘law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms’.

The ruling broke along ideological lines, with the court’s six conservatives joining a majority opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas.”