On September 21, the Biden Administration filed an amicus brief in the pending U.S. Supreme Court case of New York Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, supporting New Yorkโs draconian and unconstitutional restrictions on the right to bear firearms in public for self-defense.
โNew Yorkโs law presumptively denies the right to bear arms for self-defense unless a license applicant can demonstrate a special need for self-protection that distinguishes the person from the general population,โ the NRA reports.
In practice, this means the rich and well-connected can get unrestricted carry licenses but the peasants canโt, even if they are at greater risk.
For most New Yorkers it nullifies what the Supreme Court has already characterized as โthe individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.โ
New Yorkโs โmay-issueโ scheme in fact gives authorities so much discretion that it has fostered a culture of corruption, particularly within the Licensing Division of the New York City Police Department (NYPD). There have been repeated scandals involving the NYPD Licensing Divisionโs application process, with โfacilitatorsโ offering gifts and bribes to licensing personnel to approve or expedite their clientsโ applications.
The entire point of the New York scheme is to give authorities complete control over who gets to exercise the right and who does not.
New Yorkers have lost their fundamental right in the eyes of the state government.
According to the NRA, if the starting point for a carry licensing scheme is presumptive denial, then there is no right at all, only a privilege administered to the favored few.
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