The law violated Second Amendment.
In one of its first rulings of the new session, the Supreme Court vacated a Massachusetts gun control law. The Massachusetts case, Morin v. Lyver, concerned the plaintiff being denied a new firearm license because he had two out-of-state misdemeanor convictions for weapons possession. The Massachusetts law places severe restrictions on the possession and purchase of firearms, including the ability to obtain a license to possess handguns if convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors.
In ruling on the case, the Supreme Court said the Massachusetts law was unconstitutional. The Court sent the case back to the lower court in light of a decision last spring involving a New York statute that the Court struck down that required people to show “proper cause” if they wanted to carry a concealed firearm in public.
Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the 6-3 majority in New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen, said the law’s requirement that New Yorkers who want a permit to carry a handgun in public show “proper cause” that the weapon is specifically needed for self-defense “violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”
“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,’” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote. “We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need.”
As the Lord Leads, Pray with Us…
- For wisdom for the lower court as it reviews the case sent back by the Supreme Court.
- For discernment for the Supreme Court justices as they make determinations and decisions on the cases before them.
- For the justice to rule according to the law and the Constitution with impartiality.
Sources: New York Times, Epoch Times, Fox News
