The Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled 6-3 to strike down a century-old New York state law that requires gun owners to show “proper cause” — or a specific special need — to carry a handgun in public. The case is widely seen as a test of whether there’s a fundamental right to carry a concealed gun outside the home in public for self-defense.
Writing for the majority, Justice Clarence Thomas said that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home. “Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution,” Thomas wrote in the opinion.
The case, New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, involves a state requirement that applicants for concealed carry permits show “proper cause” — a unique need for individual self-protection — in order to be approved. Two New York gun owners challenged the law as highly discretionary and unconstitutional. State officials granted a limited license for concealed carry to each, but they were forbidden from possessing a weapon in places frequented by the public. Gun rights groups insist armed, otherwise law-abiding citizens would not pose an enhanced threat to public safety.
New York state officials argued that its gun-permitting regime is rooted in history and tradition and critical to limiting the threat of gun violence in sensitive places. Seven other U.S. states – home to more than 80 million Americans – have similar “proper cause” permitting regimes.
Less restrictive concealed carry regimes would “multiply the number of firearms carried in high-density places,” New York Solicitor General Barbara Underwood argued at the Supreme Court last year. “Proliferation of arms on subways terrifies a lot of people.”
Source-ABC
