Thursday’s US Supreme Court ruling in a gun rights case doesn’t mean a New Yorker can go to the movies with an AR-15 rifle in sight.
However, it is possible that he may eventually be able to carry a concealed, loaded weapon.
(You may be interested: Supreme Court opens dangerous path to carrying weapons in the US.)
In a decision that was settled six against three, on an action the requirements for the license of arms in New York, the conservative-dominated court concluded that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a concealed weapon in public.
The ruling represents a huge legal shift around gun control, but it will likely take time for citizens on the streets to feel its real impact:
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New York promises a backlash
New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the Supreme Court’s decision “reprehensible” and vowed to enact new state gun control legislation.
“We don’t need people walking into our subways, our restaurants, our movie theaters with concealed weapons,” Hochul said.
New York Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell warned New Yorkers that nothing has changed yet.
“If you carry a gun illegally in New York City, you will be arrested“, said.
He promised to use every legal resource available to ensure that “New Yorkers are not at greater risk
The city’s mayor, Eric Adams, vowed to use “every legal remedy available” to ensure that “New Yorkers are not put at risk greater by armed violence”.
New York, the fourth largest state in the country, has some of the strictest gun laws in the United States.
Illegally carrying a loaded gun outside someone’s home or establishment has been a crime punishable by more than 15 years in prison.
Mayor Adams said the city will begin to identify sensitive sites where guns may be legally prohibited.
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‘Sensitive sites’ for gun control
In his ruling, the Supreme Court said it was “established” by law that weapons could be prohibited in “sensitive places” such as schools, government buildings, polling stations, or courthouses.
However, the justices left it up to the lower courts to determine exactly what other sites to add to the list.
Jeffrey Fagan, a Columbia University law professor, said the court “has created a precedent that there are extremely limited circumstances where you can’t carry a firearm.”
Fagan anticipates a “game of cat and mouse” between city governments seeking to restrict the right to bear arms and the gun lobby alongside constitutional conservatives who want to expand that right.
“Can one carry a firearm in a church? On public transport? In a movie theater?he asks. “I think it will be an interesting period of experimentation.”
(You can read: United States: the difficult fight to stop the manufacture of weapons)
The impact on other states
Nearly half of the country’s 50 states allow concealed carry in public without permits, while the other half allow it only in some forms but with restrictions, according to the gun control group Giffords.
A number of states also allow open carry of rifles, including semi-automatic ones, and several recent protests in the United States have featured heavily armed demonstrators.
The Supreme Court ruling will have an immediate impact on the five states with laws similar to those of New Yorksuch as California, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts and Hawaii, as well as Washington, the nation’s capital.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING*
*With information from AFP
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