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A week after President Joe Biden signed a bill granting Supreme Court justices and their families extra security protection, conservative justices handed down a ruling Thursday that experts say will make Americans less safe.
For weeks, a bipartisan group of lawmakers have publicly rallied around the purportedly urgent need for special security to protect Supreme Court justices and their families. This was primarily a response to nonviolent protests over a leaked Supreme Court opinion showing the court was going to overturn federal abortion rights (which it did Friday). And conservatives browbeat Democrats even more after a man allegedly reported himself to police after appearing outside Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with a gun.
The court’s families, we're told, deserve added security measures.
In that light, right-wing justices’ ruling in Bruen v. New York State Rifle & Pistol Association was a cowardly and craven example of a court that’s already out of step with most Americans — and a court that has no problem accepting privileges (in this case, safety) it won’t grant the rest of the country.
It’s a dangerous gift to the gun-loving conservative movement that could have a cascade effect in other states.
In a 6-3 decision, the court’s conservative justices struck down a New York law, which had been in place for more than a century, requiring people show they have a special need to obtain a concealed weapons permit. We can expect the number of secretly strapped New Yorkers to increase because of this decision. And the ruling will undoubtedly open the door to cases challenging any form of public restriction on guns.
Advocates for public safety — including many police officers — agree the ruling will make New Yorkers less safe. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York City Mayor Eric Adams — both Democrats — as well as multiple police officials have decried the ruling. It’s easy to see why.
There isn’t much mystery to America’s uniquely awful gun violence problem (among the world’s worst, to be clear). We have the most guns in the world and, to no one’s surprise, average more gun deaths than any other wealthy country on Earth. And studies have shown states with lax gun laws have higher rates of gun homicides and suicides than states with stricter gun measures.
But the right-wing lapdogs on the Supreme Court want to force New York to mirror those states’ gun laws, regardless. It’s a dangerous gift to the gun-loving conservative movement that could have a cascade effect in other states. But don't worry, anyone with top-notch, taxpayer-funded security should be just fine.
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