On Guns & Abortion

The US of A, where men are free to carry, and women are forced to! 

The US Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling on June 23, 2022 have struck down a 108-year-old New York law restricting gun-carrying rights, in their most important judgement on guns in over a decade. It expands gun rights amid a fierce national debate over the issue. 

The decision, which jeopardises similar regulations in states like California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey, is expected to allow more people to carry guns legally. Already, it is said that more than 390 million guns are owned by civilians in the US. 

And about a quarter of Americans live in states that could be affected if their own gun restrictions are challenged. 

The court found that a New York law requiring residents to prove "proper cause" – or a good reason – to carry concealed firearms in public violates the US Constitution. 

The last landmark gun decision issued by the court was in 2010, which upheld individual gun-ownership rights within homes on a national basis. 

A day later, the Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that established the constitutional right to abortion in the US in 1973 – as well as a 1992 Supreme Court decision upholding abortion rights in a case known as Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

The court’s ruling gives individual states the power to set their own abortion laws without concern of running afoul of Roe, which had permitted abortions during the first two trimesters of pregnancy. 

And almost half the states are expected to outlaw or severely restrict abortion as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision.