The United States Supreme Court released its opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in a 6-3 opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas that the right to keep and bear arms protects the right to carry a firearm outside the home. The opinion held that New York’s proper-cause requirement 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.

Furthermore, the Court noted that 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.” McDonald, 561 U. S., at 780 (plurality opinion). The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need. The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different.

Importantly, the Court expressly rejected the “two-step” approach often employed by lower courts since the McDonald v. Chicago decision in 2010, saying that the Constitution “​​demands a test rooted in the Second Amendment’s text, as informed by history.”

Alex Ooley joined The Bullet podcast with Paul Lathrop from the Second Amendment Foundation and Mike Piwowarski from The Rundown to discuss the Court’s opinion.