The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a New York State law restricting the ability of individuals to carry concealed firearms outside of their homes is unconstitutional, an opinion that will trigger the overthrow of several similar state laws and which also plants the seeds for challenges to an array of other laws regulating firearms across the country.
In its ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court held that New York's requirement that an applicant for a permit to carry a handgun in public show "proper cause" violates individuals' right to bear arms under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The court found that by imposing a subjective test that a law-abiding citizen must pass in order to exercise the right to bear arms, New York also violated the 14th Amendment, which prevents states from passing laws restricting Americans' ability to exercise their constitutional rights.
"We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need," wrote Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, in an opinion joined by the five other conservative justices on the court.
The court's three liberal justices all dissented, with Associate Justice Stephen Breyer arguing the majority had ignored New York's "compelling interest in preventing gun violence."
The ruling, a major victory for gun rights organizations, comes less than a month after two highly publicized mass shootings — in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas — galvanized congressional support for a new law aimed at reducing gun violence. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, expected to pass the Senate this week, would make a number of changes to current law, including expanding background checks for gun buyers under 21 years of age.
The killers in Buffalo and Uvalde were both 18 years old and had purchased their weapons legally.
On Thursday, just hours after the Supreme Court ruled on the New York case, 15 Republicans joined all 50 Democrats in the Senate to overcome a filibuster of the bill, setting it up for a final vote.
Gun rights organizations cheered the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), whose Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre said in a statement, "This decision unequivocally validates the position of the NRA and should put lawmakers on notice: no law should be passed that impinges this individual freedom."
The reaction from gun control advocates was angry.
"Today's ruling is out of step with the bipartisan majority in Congress that is on the verge of passing significant gun safety legislation, and out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Americans who support gun safety measures," John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, said in a statement. "Let's be clear: the Supreme Court got this decision wrong, choosing to put our communities in even greater danger with gun violence on the rise across the country."
The reaction to the court's ruling broke down largely along partisan lines in Washington, with Democrats decrying the court's stance and Republicans supporting it.
In a statement issued by the White House, President Biden said, "This 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 national headlines, we must do more as a society — not less — to protect our fellow Americans."
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said, "It is unfathomable that, while families in Uvalde, Buffalo and countless other communities mourn their loved ones stolen by gun violence, a supermajority of the Supreme Court has chosen to endanger more American lives. Today's decision by a radical, Republican-controlled Court extends what was intended to be a limited right to self-defense at home to a new right to bring guns into our public spaces."
House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy issued a statement in support of the ruling, saying, "The Constitution protects the right of law-abiding Americans to own a firearm for self-defense through the Second Amendment. While states like New York have tried to restrict that right through burdensome laws and regulations, the Supreme Court has, on multiple occasions, recognized it, and today strengthened it."