A Win For The 2nd Amendment

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The Supreme Court decided against New York’s “special needs” law that includes strict rules for concealed carry in the state.  Prior to this ruling, the state could decide who it wanted to have this right and who it didn’t.

New York requires its residents to obtain a license for lawful possession of a firearm.  To obtain a license, a licensing officer must determine whether the applicant is of good moral character, lacks a history of crime or mental illness, and that “no good cause exists for the denial of the license.”  Most of this is fairly standard for obtaining a handgun.

However, in NY applicants must also have “proper cause” to lawfully conceal carry a handgun—openly carrying a handgun is entirely banned. New York courts have clarified that this standard means one must “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession.”  In other words, unless one can demonstrate a need apart from the general public, one cannot carry for self-defense in NY.

And one wonders why many of our nation’s cities are so lawless?  Only the criminals have guns.

The justices’ 6-3 decision is expected to allow more people to legally carry guns on the streets of the nation’s largest cities – including New York, Los Angeles and Boston – and elsewhere. About a quarter of the U.S. population lives in states affected by the ruling, the high court’s first major gun decision in more than a decade.

The majority opinion was written by Clarence Thomas.  Thomas is an originalist.   It shouldn’t matter what a Supreme Court justice’s political leanings are.  Decisions should be made based on the words written in the document and the original intent of those who authored the Constitution and nothing more. With Thomas there is no doubt that is the case.

Unfortunately, the last three justices nominated by Democratic presidents have not been of that variety.  Sotomayor boasted that she was there to represent Latin interests.  That is not the role of a justice.  A justice should not have a political group that he or she is responsive to.

Politics should have no place in SCOTUS decisions. A far left “progressive” and an extreme conservative ought to have the same goal; to ensure that the law of the land is adhered to.

Of course, decisions that the left does not like are vilified and/or ignored.  Leftists, particularly those who have recently become drunk with power from their COVID dictates, are apoplectic about the Supreme Court limiting the power of government to control the constitutional rights of the individual.

NY Governor Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, demonstrated once again that she was selected to be Governor Cuomo’s lieutenant governor just because she was a woman. Cognitive faculties and the ability to reason were not needed.

“No longer can we strike the balance … Shocking. Absolutely shocking that they have taken away our right to have reasonable restrictions. We can have restrictions on speech. You can’t yell ‘fire’ in a crowded theater. But somehow there’s no restrictions allowed on the Second Amendment. This is New York, we don’t back down. We fight back.”

No restrictions? Apparently she does not know the law…or just chooses to pretend that there are no restrictions.

NYC’s mayor Eric Adams immediately came out and said, “Nothing changes today.”  This is complete lawlessness by the mayor of our largest city.  Of course, this is to be expected from a communist.

Adams also said that we cannot have a wild west scenario in NY.  Really?  How many were shot last week in NYC?  How about Chicago, New Orleans, DC, etc, etc, etc. The wild west is already here.  Only it’s not the law-abiding who are starting it.

During discussions Justice Alito pointed out that existing NY law did not stop Buffalo from happening.

Hopefully there are more wins for the Constitution to come.