An Upcoming Concealed Carry Case at the Supreme Court Has Liberal Allies in Conflict – The New Republic

Though medieval English legal theory might seem ill-fitting for contemporary American life, the ACLU argued that restrictions on carrying arms in public are just as important, if not more so, in a modern democracy. Self-government depends on the ability of the people to participate fully in civic, political, and economic life, the ACLU argued in its brief. People need to feel safe to vote, to go to school and work, to walk the streets, and to assemble, associate, and speak freely in public. While these rights have not always been equally available to all, the goal of maintaining the peace to allow all people to participate in public life, including to speak out on political, religious, and other sensitive topics, is critically important to our democracy.

In addition to historical evidence, the ACLU also pointed to more contemporary examples. The group cited reports that some participants in the January 6 attack on Capitol Hill consciously decided to leave their guns at home beforehand because of the District of Columbias strict laws on carrying firearms in public. Other recent instances of armed groups carrying out political activities also brought an undercurrent of urgency to the ACLUs argument. As these examples make vivid, states have a sound basis for determining that liberal public carry may jeopardize the safety vital to a robust civic life, they concluded.

Siding with gun rights groups in a friend-of-the-court brief is a coalition of New Yorkbased public defender groups: Black Attorneys of Legal Aid, the Bronx Defenders, Brooklyn Defender Services, and seven county public defense offices. For our clients, New Yorks licensing regime renders the Second Amendment a legal fiction, they told the court. Worse, virtually all our clients whom New York prosecutes for exercising their Second Amendment right are Black or Hispanic. And that is no accident. New York enacted its firearm licensing requirements to criminalize gun ownership by racial and ethnic minorities. That remains the effect of its enforcement by police and prosecutors today.

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An Upcoming Concealed Carry Case at the Supreme Court Has Liberal Allies in Conflict - The New Republic