Today, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy welcomed a Second Amendment affirming decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down New York’s firearm licensing regime as unconstitutional.
“This is undoubtedly a significant win for the Second Amendment and law-abiding Americans,” said Governor Dunleavy. “It is reassuring that we have another ruling from the nation’s highest court affirming that ordinary citizens, regardless of which state or city they reside in, have a constitutional right to responsibly carry a firearm for self-defense.”
The Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v Bruen that New York’s requirement to obtain a concealed-carry permit violates the U.S. Constitution “by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms, including in public.” The State of New York requires citizens to “demonstrate a special need for self-protection distinguishable from that of the general community or of persons engaged in the same profession” to obtain a permit to carry a concealed firearm outside the home.
The Court reaffirmed its central holding in Heller and McDonald, plainly stating “that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual right to
keep and bear arms.” The Court reiterated this, declaring that “when the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct, the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct.” To justify such regulation, the government “must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual’s conduct falls outside the Second Amendment’s ‘unqualified command.’”
The State of Alaska, along with 23 other States, joined the amicus brief co-led by Attorney General Mark Brnovich of Arizona and Attorney General Eric Schmitt of Missouri.
