The U.S. Supreme Court is set to issue a major ruling involving current gun control laws.
The ruling, which many high court observers believe will serve to strengthen and expand individual gun rights under the Second Amendment, comes on the heels of new recent mass murders in Buffalo, N.Y., and Uvalde, Texas, that have left dozens dead or wounded.
The Hill reports:
The conservative majority court is expected to rule in the coming days or weeks in a pending dispute over New York state’s tight limits on the concealed carry of handguns.
Experts said that while it’s unclear just how broadly the Supreme Court would rule, the restrictive New York law is likely to be invalidated in a decision that could have ramifications for gun control efforts across the country.
“It does seem relatively clear that the court is going to strike down New York’s law and make it harder for cities and states to restrict concealed carry of firearms,” Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law, told The Hill.
“It remains to be seen exactly how broad the Supreme Court goes, but one thing is clear: as mass shootings become more of a political issue, the court is going to take options away from lawmakers on the basis of the Second Amendment,” Winkler added.
The Hill added: “As they deliberate, the U.S. is again engaged in a wrenching debate over the constitutional right to bear arms and Americans’ concerns over personal safety in a country with more than 390 million privately owned guns. The discussion has intensified as a result of two recent mass shootings that shattered communities in New York and Texas.”
The ruling will come on the heels of two mass shooting events, one in Buffalo, N.Y., and the other last week in Uvalde, Texas. Dozens of people combined were killed in the attacks, including 19 children in Uvalde.
In the aftermath, Democrats and some Republicans have pushed for new gun control legislation, though any such measure would likely be difficult to pass in the 50-50 Senate, needing 10 GOP members’ support to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold in order to move the legislation forward for a vote.
Joseph Blocher, a law professor at Duke who co-directs the Duke Center for Firearms Law, described the case as a potential game-changer.
“I do think that this case will, more than Heller did, tell us what forms of gun regulation are constitutional and why,” he said.
The New York statute required concealed carry applicants to demonstrate that they have a special need for the license other than just a basic self-defense requirement. The state’s ultra-tight restrictions put it among eight in total along with the District of Columbia which gives wide discretion to licensing officials to make the determinations.
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