On Thursday, June 23, the Supreme Court released its opinion in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen. In a 6-3 opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court held that New York’s law requiring anyone seeking a concealed carry license to demonstrate they had “proper cause” for the license—or a special need for self-defense—violated the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens. The decision expands the Second Amendment right to bear arms to include outside the home. To help us understand the opinion and what it means for gun rights, gun control measures and future reforms and legislation surrounding guns—including assault weapons bans—are Adam Winkler of UCLA, author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, and Clark Neily of the Cato Institute, who served as co-counsel in the landmark Second Amendment case District of Columbia v. Heller. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.
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This episode was produced by Melody Rowell and engineered by Dave Stotz. Research was provided by Sam Desai, Vishan Chaudhary, Lana Ulrich, and Colin Thibault.
Participants
Clark Neily is senior vice president for legal studies at the Cato Institute. He served as co-counsel in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), in which the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own a gun. Neily is the author of Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government. He is also the team leader for Team Libertarian on the NCC’s Constitution Drafting project.
Adam Winkler is the Connell Professor of Law at UCLA Law School. He is the author of Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America (2011) and We the Corporations: How American Businesses Won Their Civil Rights (2018). He is one of two Second Amendment scholars to contribute to the NCC’s Interactive Constitution.
Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
Additional Resources
- Read the opinion in NYSRPA v. Bruen
- Read Gunfight: The Battle Over the Right to Bear Arms in America, by Adam Winkler
- Read Terms of Engagement: How Our Courts Should Enforce the Constitution’s Promise of Limited Government, by Clark Neily
- Read “The Historical Cherry-Picking at the Heart of the Supreme Court’s Gun-Rights Expansion” featuring an interview with Adam Winkler, by Isaac Chotiner in The New Yorker
- Watch “The Second Amendment with Clark Neily,” an online class from the National Constitution Center
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.
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