Gun Rights Groups Respond to Supreme Court’s Ruling on Concealed Carry

A customer shops for a pistol in Tinley Park, Ill., on Dec. 17, 2012. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Following the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that struck down certain laws regarding whether Americans have the right to conceal-carry a firearm, gun rights groups celebrated.

In a 6–3 majority opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court agrees “that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” The case in question, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, can be considered the first major Second Amendment case to be heard by the Supreme Court in at least a decade. New York’s law had required an individual to show they had “proper cause” to obtain a concealed carry license.

Gun Owners of America (GOA) hailed the decision, saying that New York’s laws “allowed government entities to review and routinely deny—at their discretion—applicants who applied for a concealed carry permit.”

Other than New York, several other states and Washington, D.C., had similar “may issue” laws, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.

“This is a tremendous victory for all American gun owners who cherish their God-given right to protect themselves and their families,“ said Erich Pratt, GOA’s vice president, in a statement. ”At GOA, we proudly fight to overturn restrictive gun laws, and we are excited to see may-issue concealed carry laws permanently relegated to the history books. After all, allowing the government to decide which citizens are permitted to carry a firearm outside the home downgrades our God-given rights to mere privileges.”

And the National Rifle Association (NRA) issued a similar declaration, noting the ruling Thursday means “that the right to bear arms does not stop at a person’s front door.” The NRA and other gun rights groups have been attempting to dismantle “may issue” laws for decades.

“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,” NRA Vice President Wayne 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 and federal officials. Second Amendment freedoms belong to the people.”

Meanwhile, Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, in siding with the majority, wrote that Thursday’s decision is limited, noting that the concealed carry law that the Supreme Court ruled on was separate from various laws requiring permits to own handguns. The SAFE Act, which was enacted into law in 2013, contains the pistol permit provision, whereas the concealed carry law is more than 100 years old and is separate from the SAFE Act.

Alito, in particular, wrote that the ruling “decides nothing about who may lawfully possess a firearm or the requirements that must be met to buy a gun.“ And he added, ”Nor does it decide anything about the kind of weapons that people may possess.”

After the court’s decision, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, suggested that more gun control bills may be passed in response. On Thursday, she announced a special legislative session to pass more legislation.

“This decision isn’t just reckless. It’s reprehensible. It’s not what New Yorkers want,” Hochul said in Manhattan. “We do not need people entering our subways, our restaurants, our movie theaters with concealed weapons.”