By: Chase Liu

Last Thursday, the US Supreme Court decided to remove New York’s gun restriction laws. This decision comes after 111 years of New York requiring citizens to have a gun license to hold a firearm. People against the enforcement of the gun-carrying law claimed that it violated the second amendment right to bear arms.

This ruling increases the chances that similar regulations in other states will be removed, allowing more citizens to carry guns legally. A quarter of Americans live in states that could be potentially affected by removing gun restrictions, including Maryland, California, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Massachusetts.

Justice Clarence Thomas and six other judges ruled that Americans have the right to handle commonly used guns in public as a form of self-defense. However, it will be increasingly difficult in the future for the justices to permit gun-restricting laws because of the precedent set by this case.

The new law requires measures such as background checks for people under the age of 21 that want to obtain a gun. The people wanting to purchase a weapon also need to offer to fund states that have emergency programs in place which grant the state the ability to seize firearms from people who have been deemed dangerous by a judge.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he would find other ways to limit gun access, including tightening the application process for buying firearms and looking at bans at specific locations.

“Deeply disappointed” by the Supreme Court’s decision, President Biden said it “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution and should trouble us all.”

US civilians own more than 390 million guns. Over 45,000 Americans died from firearm-related injuries in 2020, including homicides and suicides.

Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, “Since the start of this year alone, there have already been 277 reported mass shootings – an average of more than one per day.”

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