Kathy Hochul makes statement on Supreme Court ruling (June 23, 2022)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home, issuing a major decision on the meaning of the Second Amendment.

The 6-3 ruling was the court’s second important decision on the right to “keep and bear arms.” In a landmark 2008 decision, the court said for the first time that the amendment safeguards a person’s right to possess firearms, although the decision was limited to keeping guns at home for self-defense.

The court has now taken that ruling to the next step after years of ducking the issue and applied the Second Amendment beyond the limits of homeowners’ property.

The case involved a New York law that required showing a special need to get a permit to carry a concealed handgun in public. The state bans carrying handguns openly, but it allows residents to apply for licenses to carry them concealed.

The law at issue said, however, that permits could be granted only to applicants who demonstrated some special need — a requirement that went beyond a general desire for self-protection.

Gun owners in the state sued, contending that the requirement made it virtually impossible for ordinary citizens to get the necessary license. They argued that the law turned the Second Amendment into a limited privilege, not a constitutional right.

The court agreed with the challengers and struck down the heightened requirement.

The ruling could affect the ability of state and local governments to impose a wide variety of firearms regulations. All states allow carrying concealed guns in public, although many require state-issued permits.

Governor Kathy Hochul called the U.S. Supreme Court ruling not just “reckless, it’s reprehensible,” “It’s not what New Yorkers want. We should have the right of determination of what we want to do in terms of our gun laws in our state. If the federal government will not have sweeping laws to protect us, then our states and our governors have a moral responsibility to do what we can and have laws that protect our citizens because of what is going on – the insanity of the gun culture that has now possessed everyone all the way up to even to the Supreme Court.”

Hochul said she’s prepared to call the State Legislature back to deal with the issue. A special session of legislature would likely be scheduled for after next week’s primary to see if law can be re-drafted to comply.

Hochul made her comments during a press event for the signing of Alyssa’s Law, which requires that schools consider the usefulness of silent panic alarm systems when developing their district-level school safety plans. And it expressly authorizes their inclusion within building level safety plans. The panic alarm systems can be implemented in the classroom as a smartphone app.

She also convened a meeting Thursday with New York’s six largest cities to discuss the impact of the decision and the policy options being considered

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement calling the ruling a victory for gun-owners in the state, saying, “If the governor and legislative majorities were genuinely concerned about public safety, they would target their efforts on the criminals engaging in gun violence and other crimes by repealing their disastrous bail ‘reform’ law.”