US supreme court to consider right for people to carry a handgun in public
- A New York gun-rights group and two people say the state is violating their constitutional rights by restricting carry licences
- The case will put the US Supreme Court justices in the middle of one of the country’s most fractious debates
The US Supreme Court will consider a major new Second Amendment dispute, agreeing to use a New York case to decide whether the government must let people carry a handgun in public for self-defence purposes.
With the nation reeling from series of mass shootings, the justices said they will hear an appeal by a New York gun-rights group and two people who say the state is violating their constitutional rights by issuing carry licences only to those who can show a special need for protection.
The case, which the court will consider in the nine-month term that starts in October, will put the justices in the middle of one of the country’s most fractious debates.
It will pit people who see public gun possession as a matter of self-defence and individual freedom against others who say the result will be more crime and reduced public safety.
New York is one of eight states – along with California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Hawaii – that the National Rifle Association says prevent most people from getting a carry licence.