Columbus, OH – On Monday, The Buckeye Institute filed an important amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which calls upon the court to recognize that the Second Amendment protects ordinary citizens’ fundamental right to carry handguns outside of their homes.

The Buckeye Institute simply could not stand by as New York set up a system relegating the fundamental right to self-defense to second-class status and reserving enjoyment of that right almost exclusively for the well-connected and/or celebrities.

“New York’s onerous requirements for obtaining a license to carry a handgun outside of one’s home constitute a clear violation of the Second Amendment. These rules unacceptably prevent law-abiding citizens from carrying firearms for the purposes of self-defense,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute. “There is absolutely no constitutionally-sound basis for imposing these limits, and The Buckeye Institute is proud to stand and fight this anti-American, unconstitutional, and unjust law.”

“The Second Amendment protects the fundamental right to self-defense,” said Larry Obhof, a partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick and counsel of record for The Buckeye Institute in this case. “Yet New York and several other states have prevented people from carrying outside their homes—denying them their Constitutional rights. We are merely asking the Supreme Court to apply the Constitution’s text as it is written.”

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UPDATE: June 23, 2022, by a 6-3 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New York’s requirement for citizens to demonstrate a “special need” to obtain a license to carry a gun for self-defense violates the U.S. Constitution. See The Buckeye Institute’s press release.