The US Supreme Court has issued two new rulings that further expand the Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In a 6-3 ruling, the court struck down a Hawaii law that required gun owners to get an owner’s permission before bringing a handgun onto private property open to the public.

Second Amendment Protections

The justices also decided unanimously to limit the application of a decades-old federal law that bars firearms possession by certain drug users, narrowing a measure that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who use marijuana and own firearms. These rulings underscore the court’s generally sympathetic approach toward protections enshrined in the Second Amendment.

Gun rights advocates expressed hope that the court would take up additional Second Amendment cases for its next term, which begins in October. The justices are considering challenges to the legality of state restrictions on semi-automatic rifles and large-capacity ammunition magazines.

Implications and Reactions

Experts say the court’s decisions have stiffened an already stringent legal test that gun control measures must clear in order to survive scrutiny under the Second Amendment. The court applied a legal test that emerged from a landmark 2022 decision, known as the Bruen test, which requires gun control measures to be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the court’s conservatives of having manipulated the Bruen test into a free-for-all that lets the judiciary thwart the will of legislatures by privileging access to firearms above all else. However, gun rights advocates argue that the court is simply upholding the Constitution and protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens.

Original reporting: Appleton, WI News Feed (HLL/CB) — read the source article.