Supreme Court Says Americans Have A Right To Carry Guns In Public

Supreme Court Strikes Down A New York Law Requiring People To Demonstrate Need To Get Gun License In Public

The Supreme Court said Thursday that Americans have a right to carry guns in public, a major expansion of gun rights.

The justices’ 6-3 decision follows a series of recent mass shootings and is expected to ultimately allow more people to legally carry guns on the streets of the nation’s largest cities — including New York, Los Angeles and Boston — and elsewhere.

About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states expected to be affected by the ruling, the high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade. The ruling comes as Congress is actively working on gun legislation following recent mass shootings in Texas, New York and California.

 

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Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority that the Constitution protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”In their decision, the justices struck down a New York law requiring people to demonstrate a particular need for carrying a gun in order to get a license to carry one in public. The justices said the requirement violates the Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”

California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island all have similar laws. The Biden administration had urged the justices to uphold New York’s law.

In a dissent joined by his liberal colleagues, Justice Stephen Breyer focused on the toll taken by gun violence. “Since the start of this year alone (2022), there have already been 277 reported mass shootings—an average of more than one per day,” Breyer wrote.

Backers of New York’s law had argued that striking it down would ultimately lead to more guns on the streets and higher rates of violent crime.