The Supreme Court has on Thursday overturned the century-old law regulating the carrying of concealed weapons in New York in a decision that will likely impact other states.
Justice Clarence Thomas ruled after a 6-3 vote that the requirement of a “proper cause” to carry a handgun in the state “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”
“When the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct,” Thomas added.
“The government must then justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
In his first reaction to Thursday’s decision, President Joe Biden expressed disappointment noting that the ruling “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all.”
“In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as the daily acts of gun violence that do not make headlines, we must do more as a society – not less- to protect our fellow Americans,” the President said.
