Are the Gun Laws in NYS Unconstitutional?
In New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 597 U.S. ___, slip op. No.20-843, 2022
WL 2251305 (June 23, 2022), the Supreme Court held that New York’s proper-cause requirement for obtaining an unrestricted license to carry a concealed firearm violates the Fourteenth Amendment, in that it prevents law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. Significantly, the Supreme Court stated that the right to bear arms for self-defense is “‘the central component of the [Second Amendment] right itself,’” and that confining the right to bear arms to the home would “make little sense.” The Court stated that “many Americans hazard greater danger outside the home than in it.” This argument cannot be more applicable right now in New York City, where the violent crime rate appears to be escalating daily.