Supreme Court favored 2nd Amendment over New York law

New York established a concealed carry rule that appeared stringent and subject to the opinion of the approving officials. This made it tougher to get a concealed carry license in New York than it did in many other states. One of the points that the majority made was that the 2nd Amendment should not, as a standard, be held lower than the other rights provided by the Constitution.

From Fox News:

“[W]e do think respondents err in their attempt to characterize New York’s proper-cause requirement as a ‘sensitive-place’ law,” Thomas wrote, explaining that New York viewed “sensitive places” as anywhere “where people typically congregate and where law-enforcement and other public-safety professionals are presumptively available.”

This definition, Thomas said, is too broad.

“Put simply, there is no historical basis for New York to effectively declare the island of Manhattan a “sensitive place” simply because it is crowded and protected generally by the New York City Police Department,” he wrote.

The conservative justice also looked at the plain language of the Second Amendment, which protects the right “to keep and bear arms.” He described keeping and bearing as two separate things, noting that Heller defines “bear” as “to wear, bear, or carry.” This implies public carrying, Thomas said, because someone would not generally wear their gun in a holster at home, but would “keep” it somewhere.

The 63-page opinion also explored historical restrictions on carrying handguns that New York relied on. Thomas explained why they do not justify a current restriction, noting how past regulations from centuries ago focused on “dangerous and unusual weapons,” while handguns today are relatively commonplace. While the handgun may have been considering dangerous and unusual during colonial times, the opinion said, in modern times it is “the quintessential self-defense weapon.”

Fox News has the rest of the article here.

Category: Second Amendment