Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Case Involving Second Amendment Restrictions in New York

Law-abiding Americans in every state should be allowed to keep and bear arms. States restrict this Second Amendment right for convicted felons and certain others.

Not too long ago, New Yorkers were barred from carrying guns outside the home without showing a “proper cause” or a special need to carry concealed. “Because of the Second Amendment” was not a good enough reason.

The U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 ruled that those requirements were unconstitutional.

The high court held 6-3 that the proper-cause requirement “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self defense.”

Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion, said that the right to bear arms is not “a second-class right.”

But that didn’t mean anything to New York. After the Supreme Court struck down the restrictions, New York lawmakers passed the Concealed Carry Improvement Act, which added restrictions to residents’ Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

Residents now must prove “good moral character” to carry concealed and bars concealed weapons in “sensitive locations” like schools, parks, churches, health care facilities, theaters, and other locations, including — you might not believe it — Times Square. (See Reuters)

Bureaucrats got to decide whether a law-abiding resident had a “proper cause” to protect themselves with guns. Now they get to judge residents’ “moral character” and bar concealed weapons from where they might be most needed.

Six New York residents challenged the Concealed Carry Improvement Act. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the restrictions. The residents appealed to the Supreme Court, which has refused to hear the case.

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