Supreme Court Ruling Prods Challenges to State Firearms Restrictions
The opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen authored by Justice Clarence Thomas says judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests like enhancing public safety.
Landwebs
The Supreme Court’s June ruling expanding gun rights threatens to upend firearms restrictions across the country as activists wage court battles over everything from bans on AR-15-style guns to age limits, the Associated Press reports. In Massachusetts, for example, police chiefs can no longer deny or impose restrictions on licenses just because the applicant doesn’t have a “good reason” to carry a gun. New York quickly passed a new concealed-weapon law, but Republicans there predict it will also end up being overturned.
One judge has temporarily blocked a Colorado town from enforcing a ban on the sale and possession of certain semi-automatic weapons. Judges should no longer consider whether the law serves public interests like enhancing public safety, the opinion authored by Justice Clarence Thomas said. Instead, they should only weigh whether the law is “consistent with the Second Amendment’s text and historical understanding.” The Supreme Court has ordered lower courts to take another look at several other cases under the court’s new test. Among them: laws in California and New Jersey that limit the amount of ammunition a gun magazine can hold and a 2013 ban on “assault weapons” in Maryland. Gun rights groups are also challenging similar bans in California, New York, New Jersey and Delaware.
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