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| Second Amendment: Supreme Court strikes down New York handgun law |
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a fundamental right to carry firearms in public in a landmark decision that will prevent states from restricting people who carry guns.
The 6-3 ruling, which comes as the country grapples with a shocking spike in gun crime, overturns a New York law that required a person to prove self-defense to receive a gun permit.
"The Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual's right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home," said Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote the majority opinion.
"New York's self-caused requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense."
