Kamala Harris Says SCOTUS Ruling ‘Defies’ The Constitution

Vice President Kamala Harris said Thursday that the Supreme Court ruling overturning a New York concealed carry regulation “defies” the Constitution.

The Court ruled that New York’s regulation requiring “proper cause” to obtain a license to conceal carry a handgun violates the Fourteenth Amendment by prohibiting a law-abiding citizen from bearing arms for self-defense purposes.

“We, the president, myself, many of us are deeply concerned and troubled by the Supreme Court’s ruling today,” the vice president said. “I believe it defies common sense and the Constitution of the United States. I was in Buffalo [New York], I attended one of the funerals. We have seen the massacre of 19 babies and their teachers in Uvalde [Texas]. We can go on down the list about why, yet again, is on the front pages so to speak of the concern of the American people about what we can and what we have a responsibility to do in terms of reasonable gun safety laws.”

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“And it is for that reason that I believe that the Supreme Court’s decision today defies logic in terms of what we know we are capable of doing with reasonable gun safety laws to secure the safety and the wellbeing  the people of our nation.”

Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion ruling in the case. (RELATED: ‘Middle Finger To New York’: ‘The View’ Laments SCOTUS Decision On NY Concealed Carry Law) 

“The constitutional right to bear arms in public for self-defense is not ‘a second-class right, subject to an entirely different body of rules than the other Bill of Rights guarantees,’” the court ruled. “The exercise of other constitutional rights does not require individuals to demonstrate to government officers some special need.”

“The Second Amendment right to carry arms in public for self-defense is no different. New York’s proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their right to keep and bear arms in public.”

In his dissenting opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote “only by ignoring an abundance of historical evidence supporting regulations restricting the public carriage of firearms can the Court conclude that New York’s law is not ‘consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”

Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul lamented the decision, claiming the Supreme Court took away the state’s right to implement protection against gun violence.