SCOTUS strikes down New York's concealed carry law

the landmark supreme court ruling striking down a new york state law on the books for more than a century it required gun owners to show a heightened need a proper cause in order to carry a concealed handgun the court ruling that that violates the second amendment's right to keep and bear arms the decision by a six to three majority of conservative justices the three liberal justices dissenting justice clarence thomas for the majority writing that citizens shouldn't have to explain to the government why they're seeking to exercise a constitutional right but the ruling allows states to ban guns in quote sensitive places that could include schools government buildings courthouses but he specifically wrote all of manhattan could not be declared a sensitive place tonight president biden in a statement saying he is deeply disappointed and that the ruling contradicts both common sense and the constitution new york governor kathy holcol calling the decision reckless and reprehensible and will make it harder to protect families and prevent gun violence in her words the governor calling a special session of the state legislature to respond and new york city mayor eric adams calling the decision deeply disturbing saying a city as densely populated as new york that the decision is just not rooted in reality but the ruling tonight impacts not only new york but seven other densely populated states with similar laws where 80 million americans live we have reaction on both sides of this here in new york tonight but first terry moran who's covered the supreme court for years for us on this story for more than a century new york state has had one of the nation's strictest laws regulating the concealed carrying of firearms but today the supreme court struck that law down the new york law required anyone seeking a license to carry a concealed handgun to show they had proper cause a special need for it but by a six to three majority the court today declared that law violates the second amendment right to keep and bear arms justice clarence thomas writing for the court we know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need it is not how the second amendment works when it comes to public carry for self-defense the new york law thomas wrote for the court's six conservative justices gave local officials too much discretion over a constitutional right why isn't it good enough to say i live in a violent area and i want to be able to defend myself now new york must revise the 109 old law in accordance thomas wrote with this nation's historical traditions of firearms regulation today the governor of new york kathy hokel swift in her reaction this decision isn't just reckless it's reprehensible it's not what new yorkers want and we should have the right of determination of what we want to do in terms of our gun laws in our state president biden in a statement said the ruling should deeply trouble us all adding in the wake of the horrific attacks in buffalo and uvalde we must do more as a society not less to protect our fellow americans i think it's a bad decision i think it's and i think it's not reasoned accurately but i'm disappointed in his dissent justice stephen breyer mentioned the nearly 300 mass shootings that have occurred this year saying the court's decision does not consider the potentially deadly consequences and that it burdens states efforts in preventing gun violence and protecting the safety of its citizens but justice samuel alito firing back writing how does the dissent account for the fact that one of the mass shootings near the top of its list took place in buffalo the new york law at issue in this case obviously did not stop that perpetrator the head of a gun rights group that brought the case saying he's relieved we are not the problem the problem is the criminals and the wrongdoers in the state and the politicians have to learn that the decision is also being hailed as a landmark win for the nra 80 million americans live in states with laws similar to new york's and it remains to be seen how those laws might change under this opinion those laws are also likely unconstitutional and so all of those states are now going to have to go back to the drawing board and pass new laws you know regulating the ability to carry guns outside of the home all right so let's get to terry moran on this potential ripple effect across the country he's live at the supreme court tonight terry big picture here do we expect to see a wave of challenges in states with similar laws to new york's sure dude david there are eight states by our account that have very similar laws to new york but this case has impact nationwide and on many other regulations because under it every american has a constitutional right now to carry a gun for self-defense in public the court leaving the door open for regulation in those so-called sensitive spaces like government buildings maybe public transportation like the subway and private establishments like taverns or churches are exempt but the bottom line here there'll be many more americans carrying many more guns in public david terry moran live at the court tonight terry hi everyone george stephanopoulos here thanks for checking out the abc news youtube channel if you'd like to get more videos show highlights and watch live event coverage click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel and don't forget to download the abc news app for breaking news alerts thanks for watching

Channel: ABC News

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Keywords: Court, New, SCOTUS, Supreme, York, abc, against, carry, concealed, conservative, discretion, down, handgun, justices, law, limits, local, much, officials, p_cmsid=2494279, p_vid=news-85608296, public, right, ruled, strikes, to, too, wnt

Id: 4Bhox6Q5LLY

Length: 5min 14sec (314 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 23 2022