The US Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision today shooting down a strict ban on handguns – a ruling that New York City officials said would have little impact here, but could open the door to challenges against gun laws.
“My first understanding from the briefing that I got is no, it will not” have a sweeping effect, Mayor Bloomberg said.
The city filed a friend-of-the-court brief to support Washington, DC, whose total handgun ban was killed today by the high court.
The 5-4 majority held that the Second Amendment right “to keep and bear arms” means that a citizen can keep a handgun at home.
But Bloomberg, co-chairman of Mayors Against Illegal Guns, said the high court agreed with him that such guns can still be regulated.
In the Washington case, “they were arguing you didn’t have the right to have a gun,” he said. “What the court said was you have a right, but the state has an interest here as well, and can have reasonable regulations to protect the public.
“And we will continue to do everything we can to try to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
Jacob Rieper, a lobbyist for the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, said the Supreme Court ruling would open the way to challenge some regulations, such as what gun owners call the arbitrary way pistol permits are granted.
“For years we’ve been told that if we don’t like the law, we can get legislation passed or we can get a decision from the Supreme Court establishing a personal right to own a gun,” Rieper said. “Now we have it.”
“Some time in the very near future, once the lawyers get a chance to pore over it, I expect that it will be used as the basis for lawsuits in New York City and New York state.”
Others said that the city’s lengthy mandatory waiting period and costly licensing fee could be challenged.
Assemblyman Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn), a former prosecutor, said, “This probably is just the beginning of the fight. There will be other lawsuits and decisions to clarify what the court decided today.”
The long-awaited ruling was the first time the Supreme Court tackled an issue hotly debated by constitutional scholars – what the wording of the Second Amendment actually means. It says: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Some gun foes argue that only “the people” as a group, such as in a state militia or national guard, can own guns – not individuals. On that basis, Washington passed a sweeping law banning virtually all handguns.
But the high court ruled today that Americans can keep them in their homes for self-defense.
A handgun is the preferred weapon, Justice Antonin Scalia said, in part because “it can be pointed at a burglar with one hand while the other hand dials the police.”
Dick Heller, 66, a security guard, had sued the District of Columbia after it rejected his application to keep a handgun at his home. “I’m thrilled I am now able to defend myself and my household in my home,” Heller said today.
New York’s laws are not nearly as extensive as the DC ban.
“The ability to own a gun and keep it in your home to protect yourself is a lot less regulated in New York City than the ability to carry it on the street,” Lento said. “New York’s legislation doesn’t run afoul of what the Supreme Court decided today.”
The ruling instantly became a political lightning rod.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain hailed the “landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom” and criticized his Democratic foe, Barack Obama, as anti-gun.
“Unlike the elitist view that believes Americans cling to guns out of bitterness, today’s ruling recognizes that gun ownership is a fundamental right – sacred, just as the right to free speech and assembly,” McCain said.
Obama saw the ruling differently: “While it ruled that the DC gun ban went too far, Justice Scalia himself acknowledged that this right is not absolute and subject to reasonable regulations enacted by local communities to keep their streets safe.”
NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said: “It remains to be seen what its ultimate impact is on New York City . . . We are going to continue our practice to get illegal guns off the streets.” With Post Wire Services