SCOTUS Upholds Right of Law-Abiding Citizens to Carry Guns in Public for Self-Defense

(CNSNews.com) – In a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Supreme Court ruled that New York “violated the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.”

According to the syllabus: “The State of New York makes it a crime to possess a firearm without a license, whether inside or outside the home. An individual who wants to carry a firearm outside his home may obtain an unrestricted license to ‘have and carry’ a concealed ‘pistol or revolver’ if he can prove that ‘proper cause exists’ for doing so.”

The ruling notes that “[n]o New York statute defines ‘proper cause.’ But New York courts have held that an applicant shows proper cause only if he can ‘demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community.’”

The two petitioners, described as adult, law-abiding New Yorkers, both applied for unrestricted licenses to carry pistols in public based on their “generalized interest in self-defense.”

The state refused their request, saying the two men failed to satisfy the “proper cause” requirement.

According to the opinion:

“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees.’

“The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different.

“New York’s proper-cause requirement 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.”

In a concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote:

“[T]he real thrust of today’s dissent is that guns are bad and that States and local jurisdictions should be free to restrict them essentially as they see fit.”

“That argument was rejected in Heller…Heller correctly recognized that the Second Amendment codifies the right of ordinary law-abiding Americans to protect themselves from lethal violence by possessing and, if necessary, using a gun.

“In 1791, when the Second Amendment was adopted, there were no police departments, and many families lived alone on isolated farms or on the frontiers. If these people were attacked, they were on their own.

“It is hard to imagine the furor that would have erupted if the Federal Government and the States had tried to take away the guns that these people needed for protection.

“Today, unfortunately, many Americans have good reason to fear that they will be victimized if they are unable to protect themselves. And today, no less than in 1791, the Second Amendment guarantees their right to do so.”

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