The Supreme Court decision invalidating New York’s common-sense restrictions on concealed firearms is deeply flawed, rooted in political expediency rather than legal theory, and will contribute to countless additional deaths by gunfire.
For nearly 50 years, American women have had the right to choose what to do with their own bodies. Today’s devastating decision will reverberate for generations. For the first time in our history, the Supreme Court has snatched away a fundamental right from more than half our nation’s citizens.
This decision is a personal affront to the dignity and freedom of every woman in this country, and a violent intrusion into a personal decision that should be left to women and their doctors. It will disproportionately harm women and children of color, those living on lower incomes, young people, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQI+ community and future generations of women and girls who would need access to such an essential service.
The National Urban League and NAACP Legal Defense Fund last year filed an amicus brief in support of New York State’s position in the case, NYS Rifle and Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, pointing out that Black people – especially young Black men — disproportionally suffer from injury or death due to gun violence
Studies confirm that not only does the likelihood of handgun violence increase where there are more concealed handguns on the street, but widespread gun possession on public streets often escalates what would otherwise be non-lethal disputes into deadly assaults,” the brief noted. “As highlighted by numerous high-profile incidents in recent years, many people of color have died at the hands of white people who, out of fear or other biases, use concealed firearms against minority victims. The Court should not interpret the Second Amendment to inhibit jurisdictions’ longstanding authority to impose reasonable regulations on concealed carry for public safety.
National Urban League CEO Marc Morial said, today’s decision flies in the face of the 10th Amendment, which grants states the authority to make laws for public health and safety.
The facts are clear: where there are more guns, there are more gun deaths,” Morial said, “New York – along with California, New Jersey, Maryland, Hawaii, and Massachusetts — has one of the lowest gun-death rates of any state, due in part to the very concealed-carry guardrail that the Supreme Court has just obliterated.”
Read More Via National Urban League
