Columbus, OH – On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen 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.

“The Buckeye Institute was proud to argue in its brief that New York’s onerous requirements for obtaining a license to carry a handgun outside of one’s home unacceptably prevented law-abiding Americans from carrying firearms for the purposes of self-defense,” said Robert Alt, president and chief executive officer of The Buckeye Institute and a lawyer on the brief. “The rules New York put in place allowed the well-connected and famous to obtain permits to carry firearms for self-defense while simultaneously refusing to grant the same right to ordinary law-abiding citizens in a clear violation of the Second Amendment.”

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority, “Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution.”

“The Second Amendment protects the fundamental right of self-defense,” said Larry Obhof, a partner at Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP and counsel of record for The Buckeye Institute in this case. “Yet for far too long, some states have limited that right outside of one’s home. Today the Supreme Court affirmed that your rights do not end at your doorstep, and the Bill of Rights means what it says.”

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