The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a long-standing New York concealed carry law violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution in a ruling that was quickly rebuked by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the White House.
Justice Clarence Thomas authored the 6-3 ruling that reversed a lower court decision upholding New York’s 108-year-old law that limited who can obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun in public.
The high court heard arguments over the case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in November, when justices in the 6-3 Republican-appointed majority appeared skeptical of the law’s requirement to demonstrate a “proper cause” for obtaining a license to carry a concealed pistol or revolver.
SUPREME COURT MAY EXPAND GUN RIGHTS IN RULING OVER NEW YORK CONCEALED CARRY LAW
“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,'” Thomas wrote.
Thomas added that there is “no other constitutional right” that requires an individual to demonstrate some sort of special need to government officers in order to obtain a concealed carry permit.
“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,” Thomas added.
A pair of plaintiffs who challenged the law, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, filed their lawsuit after the Empire State rejected their concealed carry applications for insufficiently demonstrating a special need for a permit despite having already passed required background checks for gun licenses for hunting and target practice.
Hochul (D-NY) was giving a speech on Thursday about keeping schools safe from gun violence when the Supreme Court decision was announced. She signaled the state would be taking action to update its gun laws.
“So stay tuned. Stay tuned,” Hochul said.
The governor later took to social media to vent about the “outrageous” decision, saying it came during “a moment of national reckoning on gun violence.” Hochul claimed the high court “has recklessly struck down a New York law that limits those who can carry concealed weapons.”
Hochul vowed in May to call for an emergency legislative session this summer to craft new gun legislation as a means to work around the expected high court decision that curtailed the state’s concealed carry permit law.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both blasted the court decision Thursday, with Harris saying the the ruling “defies common sense and the Constitution.”
Additionally, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced that his office is “analyzing this ruling and crafting gun safety legislation that will take the strongest steps possible to mitigate the damage done today.”
South Texas College of Law professor Josh Blackman told the Washington Examiner earlier this month that Democratic state legislators could respond by making it “impossible” to carry firearms in specific sensitive locations throughout New York City.
“They’ll designate basically every single place in New York City as a sensitive place … no subway, no buildings, nowhere to go. We won’t be able to carry within 100 feet of a school, which is virtually everywhere, right? They’re gonna make it virtually impossible,” Blackman said earlier this month.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) announced at a news conference with the New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell that the high court’s decision does not change any gun laws in the city as of Thursday, adding that “this decision has made every, single one of us less safe from gun violence.”
“If you have a premise permit, it does not automatically convert to a carry permit,” Sewell warned. “If you carry a gun illegally in New York City, you will be arrested. Nothing changes today, and that’s important for everyone to be aware of,” Adams said.
The decision over New York’s restrictive concealed carry regime could affect eight other states with similar laws, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
Advocates for gun rights, including the National Rifle Association, also cheered the decision in Bruen.
“Today’s ruling is a watershed win for good men and women all across America and is the result of a decades-long fight the NRA has led,” said Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the NRA.
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Bruen builds on the court’s previous major gun rights decision over a decade ago. In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, a 5-4 decision ruled that the Constitution shields a person’s right to hold a firearm in their home for self-defense.
Thursday’s decision also builds on a 5-4 decision by Justice Samuel Alito in 2010, which held that the 14th Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states.
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