Amid a fierce national debate, the Supreme Court expands gun rights.
The court found that a New York law that requires citizens to have “good cause” to carry a firearm in public areas violates the US Constitution. The ruling jeopardizes many state regulations, such as ones in New Jersey and California. About a quarter of Americans live in states that could be affected by the decision.
Justice Clarence Thomas released a statement that ruled Americans have the right to carry “commonly used” firearms for personal defense.
Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer, liberal judges, disagreed with the majority decision.
The ruling clears the way for legal challenges to similar restrictions in Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, and Massachusetts. It comes amid political divisions over how to resolve gun violence, following the high-profile shootings at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas and a grocery store in Buffalo, New York last month.
President Joe Biden said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision and expressed concerns over whether the ruling was Constitutional.
More than 390 million guns are owned by civilians in the US. In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died from firearm-related injuries.
The Supreme Court decision continues a steady pattern of rulings that have expanded gun rights, holding that the right to carry firearms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Even following mass shootings such as the ones in Uvalde and Buffalo, the six-justice majority on the Supreme Court stood by a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment. The last gun control decision issued by the court was in 2010, which upheld individual gun-ownership rights within homes.
Justice Breyer noted that gun violence has taken a significant number of lives in the US this year. There have already been about 300 reported mass shootings, an average of more than one per day.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed the first national gun control bill in almost three decades that Thursday night by 65-33. The new law expands background checks for gun buyers under 21 and offers funding to states that have emergency programs in place to seize guns deemed dangerous. The bill will have to clear the US House of Representatives before a signature from President Biden.
The court found that a New York law that requires citizens to have “good cause” to carry a firearm in public areas violates the US Constitution. The ruling jeopardizes many state regulations, such as ones in New Jersey and California. About a quarter of Americans live in states that could be affected by the decision.
Justice Clarence Thomas released a statement that ruled Americans have the right to carry “commonly used” firearms for personal defense.
Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, and Stephen Breyer, liberal judges, disagreed with the majority decision.
The ruling clears the way for legal challenges to similar restrictions in Maryland, New Jersey, Hawaii, California, and Massachusetts. It comes amid political divisions over how to resolve gun violence, following the high-profile shootings at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas and a grocery store in Buffalo, New York last month.
President Joe Biden said he was “deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision and expressed concerns over whether the ruling was Constitutional.
More than 390 million guns are owned by civilians in the US. In 2020 alone, more than 45,000 Americans died from firearm-related injuries.
The Supreme Court decision continues a steady pattern of rulings that have expanded gun rights, holding that the right to carry firearms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution. Even following mass shootings such as the ones in Uvalde and Buffalo, the six-justice majority on the Supreme Court stood by a broad interpretation of the Second Amendment. The last gun control decision issued by the court was in 2010, which upheld individual gun-ownership rights within homes.
Justice Breyer noted that gun violence has taken a significant number of lives in the US this year. There have already been about 300 reported mass shootings, an average of more than one per day.
Meanwhile, the Senate passed the first national gun control bill in almost three decades that Thursday night by 65-33. The new law expands background checks for gun buyers under 21 and offers funding to states that have emergency programs in place to seize guns deemed dangerous. The bill will have to clear the US House of Representatives before a signature from President Biden.
