“A Dark Day for America”: States led by Democrats from California to New York are facing a conservative-majority Supreme Court decision to reaffirm the right to bear guns outside their homes.
Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, the country’s most populous state, criticized the “shameful” and “dangerous” decision on Twitter.
The decision of the United States’ highest court may “encourage a program of radical ideology” while limiting “states’ right to protect their citizens from (risk) shooting in the street, at school, at church.”
Newsom suggested toughening California’s firearms legislation. As announced in a statement, it will sign “16 new safety laws next week, one of which will allow citizens to file complaints against firearm manufacturers and dealers.”
The Democratic Governor of New York (the fourth most populous state in the Union with 20 million), Kathy Hochul, was the first to protest Thursday morning’s decision by the supreme court, calling it “absolutely scandalous”.
Hochul also spoke of a “dark day” for advocates of tougher gun laws.
The Supreme Court, mostly conservative judges, lifted the “restrictions” on firearms in New York state law, despite a recent wave of high-profile massacres, including one in Buffalo (where 10 blacks died) in May. ) and another Texas school (21 dead, including 19 children).
New York law, in effect since 1913, required a person to prove that he really had “good cause” or needed in self-defense to carry a gun in a public place.
like cat and mouse
Other “liberal” (i.e. “progressive”) states, such as Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, and the District of Columbia (capital Washington), will require the same types of licenses to carry guns as those established in New York.
It is up to local sheriffs and police to grant this license in California. Getting a license in a rural Republican county is easier than in San Francisco, one of the most “progressive” cities in the United States.
The shocking Supreme Court decision doesn’t immediately overturn local laws restricting the carrying of guns, but it will certainly lead to multiple lawsuits.
“It’s going to be a game of cat and mouse that will be interesting to watch,” predicts Jeffrey Fagan, a law professor at Columbia University in New York.
Supreme Court ‘Harm’
Keechant Sewell, the head of the powerful New York City Police Department (NYPD), accused of enforcing Mayor Eric Adams’ anti-gun agenda, warned that “anyone who illegally carries a gun in New York will be arrested.”
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has already pledged “new gun laws, with the strictest possible measures to reduce damage done today.”
Maryland’s attorney general, Brian Froch, said local legislation that was too restrictive on firearms had led to “a reduction in violence.” Froch vowed to “continue to fight to keep the people of Maryland safe.”
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said something similar. This New England state “has one of the lowest gun deaths in the country because we know strict laws save lives,” he said.
According to the Small Arms Survey project, approximately 400 million guns were in circulation among the US civilian population in 2017, or 120 guns per 100 inhabitants. According to the Gun Violence Archive, more than 45,000 people died from firearms in 2020, nearly half of whom were suicides.
In this context, Thursday night, the Senate passed a bill backed by lawmakers from the two main parties that would restrict access to firearms and allocate billions of dollars to fund mental health and safety in schools.
The bill, which was approved by 65 votes, including fifteen Republicans to 33, has a chance to be approved by the House of Representatives this Friday.
source: Noticias
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