NRA celebrates Supreme Court striking down NY concealed handgun license law

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Supreme Court rules in favor of gun owners in NY case

Constitutional law professor Jonathan Turley, Fox News host Shannon Bream and former assistant U.S. attorney Andy McCarthy discuss the details and implications of the 6-3 ruling.

The National Rifle Association weighed in on the Supreme Court ruling striking down regulations in New York that made it difficult for citizens of the state to obtain a license to carry a handgun.

"Today’s ruling is a watershed win for good men and women all across America and is the result of a decades-long fight the NRA has led," Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, said in a statement Thursday. "The right to self-defense and to defend your family and loved ones should not end at your home. This ruling brings life-saving justice to law-abiding Americans who have lived under unconstitutional regimes all across our country, particularly in cities and states with revolving door criminal justice systems, no cash bail and increased harassment of law-enforcement. "

LaPierre's statement comes after the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 Thursday that New York regulations requiring citizens prove "proper cause" for seeking a concealed pistol license were unconstitutionally restrictive.

"In this case, petitioners and respondents agree that ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a similar right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense. We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home," Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the Court's majority opinion. "Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution."

SUPREME COURT GUN DECISION SHOOTS DOWN NY RULE THAT SET HIGH BAR FOR CONCEALED CARRY LICENSES

Wayne LaPierre, NRA vice president and CEO.

The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, was the first major Second Amendment case the court has heard in over 10 years. It was brought before the court by the NRA affiliated organization, with the NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund filing a Brief Amicus Curiae in support of the organization's lawsuit.

The ruling was not celebrated by the White House, with President Biden releasing a statement saying he is "deeply disappointed" by the result of the case.

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"This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all," Biden said.

But LaPierre called the court's decision a "landmark win for constitutional freedom and the NRA."

"The decision comes at an important time – as the Senate considers legislation that undermines the Second Amendment freedom. This decision unequivocally validates the position of the NRA and should put lawmakers on notice: no law should be passed that impinges this individual freedom," LaPierre said. "It also confronts a troubling problem with the Senate legislation – underscoring that these freedoms should not be left to ‘unguided’ discretion of state officials. Second Amendment freedoms belong to the people."

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LaPierre also pointed to states that have had right-to-carry laws on the books for years, arguing those states demonstrate that law-abiding citizens can safely carry guns.

"Decades of Right-to-Carry laws all across America have proven that good men and women are not the problem," LaPierre said. "This ruling will bring life-saving justice to law-abiding Americans who have lived under unconstitutional restrictions all across our country, particularly in cities and states with revolving door criminal justice systems, no cash bail and increased opposition to law-enforcement."