WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court has issued its largest gun rights ruling in more than a decade. Here are some questions and answers about what makes and doesn’t make Thursday’s decision:
WHAT EXACTLY WAS THE JUDGMENT OF THE SUPREME COURT ON ARMS?
The Supreme Court said Americans have the right to carry firearms in public to defend themselves. This is important because about half a dozen states have conditioned obtaining a license to carry a weapon in public on the person who demonstrates a real need, sometimes called a “good cause” or “appropriate cause.” carry the weapon. This limits who can carry a weapon in these states.
In its ruling, the Supreme Court overturned New York’s “proper cause” requirement, but the laws of other states are expected to face swift challenges. About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states that are expected to be affected by the ruling.
The last time the court issued major gun decisions was in 2008 and 2010. In those decisions, judges established the national right to keep a gun for self-defense in a person’s home. The question for the court this time was just about carrying a gun out of the house.
Judge Clarence Thomas wrote in the majority opinion of the court that the right also extended outside the home: “Nothing in the text of the Second Amendment marks a distinction between the home and the public with respect to the right to have and carry weapons “.
HOW DID JUSTICE RULE?
The gun sentence divided the court 6-3, with the court’s conservative judges in the majority and their Liberals in dissent. In addition to Thomas, the majority opinion was joined by court president John Roberts and judges Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The three court liberals who disagreed are Judges Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.
NOW ARE NEW YORKS FREE TO BRING A GUN IN PUBLIC?
Not exactly. The judges did not touch on other parts of the New York Guns Act, so other requirements for obtaining a license remain. The court made it clear that the state can continue to get people to apply for a license to carry a gun, and can put restrictions on who qualifies for a permit and where a weapon can be carried. In the future, however, New Yorkers will no longer have to give a specific reason why they want to be able to carry a gun in public.
The decision also does not take effect immediately and state lawmakers said Thursday they planned to review licensing rules this summer. They have not yet detailed their plans. Some options being discussed include requiring training on firearms and a clean criminal record. The state could also ban guns from being carried in certain places, such as near schools or on public transportation.
In addition, the decision does not address the law recently passed in New York in response to the Buffalo grocery store massacre that, among other things, banned anyone under the age of 21 from buying or owning a semi-automatic rifle.
WHICH OTHER STATES CAN SEE IMPACTS?
A handful of states have laws similar to those in New York. The Biden administration has counted that California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island have laws similar to those in New York. Connecticut and Delaware are also sometimes referred to as states with similar laws.
WHAT CAN STATES DO TO REGULATE WEAPONS AFTER THE DECISION?
Judge Brett Kavanaugh, along with Chief Justice John Roberts, pointed out the limits of the decision. States can still require people to obtain a license to carry a gun, Kavanaugh wrote, and condition that license on “fingerprinting, a background check, a mental health record check, and training in the handling of firearms and in the laws on the use of force, among other possible requirements. ”Arms control groups said states could review and perhaps increase those requirements. that those who have a license to carry a weapon should not do so openly, but should hide their weapon.
Judge Samuel Alito noted that the decision said “nothing about who can legally own a firearm or the requirements that must be met to buy a weapon.” States have long banned criminals and the mentally ill from possessing weapons, for example. The decision also said nothing “about the types of weapons people may have,” Alito noted, so states could also try to limit the availability of specific weapons.
The judges also suggested that states may completely ban the carrying of weapons in certain “sensitive places.” An earlier Supreme Court decision mentioned that schools and government buildings were places where guns could be banned. Thomas said the historical record shows that legislative assemblies, polling stations and courts could also be sensitive sites. Thomas said courts can “use analogies with these historical regulations of ‘sensitive places’ to determine that modern regulations prohibiting carrying firearms into new and similar sensitive places are constitutionally permitted.”
HOW DO COURTS EVALUATE WEAPON WEAPON RESTRICTIONS?
The court made it more difficult to justify arms restrictions, although it is difficult to know what the new evidence announced by the court would mean for any specific regulation.
Thomas wrote that the nation’s courts of appeals have been applying an incorrect standard to assess whether such laws are inadmissible. Courts have generally taken a two-step approach, first looking at the constitutional text and history to see if a regulation is included in the Second Amendment and then, if so, examining the government’s justification for the restriction.
“Despite the popularity of this two-step approach, it’s one step too far,” Thomas wrote.
From now on, Thomas wrote, courts can only maintain regulations if the government can prove they are within traditionally accepted limits.
State and local restrictions already challenged in federal court include a ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic weapons, called assault rifles by opponents, and high-capacity ammunition magazines, as well as minimum age requirements. to buy semi-automatic firearms.
WHAT OTHER GREAT RULES ARE THERE IN THE WORKS?
The Supreme Court heard arguments over the weapons case in November and a decision was expected before the court began its summer recess. The court has nine more rulings to issue before the break and plans to publish more on Friday. Still waiting is an important abortion decision.
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Associated Press editor David Caruso contributed to this report from New York.