World Insights: Outcries triggered after concealed-carry gun law abolished by U.S. supreme court

DENVER, the United States, June 29 (Xinhua) -- Outcries have been triggered from coast to coast in the United States after a century-old New York state law restricting a citizen's ability to carry a concealed handgun was squashed by the Supreme Court.

"On Thursday the Supreme Court struck down a century-old New York state law requiring gun owners to have probable cause in order to carry a concealed weapon," KOAA News of Southern Colorado said Monday.

The ruling has moved the country toward conservative values not seen before, analysts say. Marketing executive Graydon Gordian wrote, "Roe. Miranda. Gun control. Church and State. All dismantled in a single week. The single worst week for civil rights and liberties in decades."

Bloomberg's Noah Feldman said, "It's open season on fundamental rights."

"Our country is in shambles, it was a week from hell," said Sandy Phillips, a nationally-renowned gun control advocate, who saw the Supreme Court's three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump reverse the country's direction on several pivotal issues, each against public opinion, according to polls.

Phillips is the mother of Jessica Ghawi, who was 24 when murdered on July 20, 2012, at the notorious Aurora Theater massacre, where 12 people died and 70 others were injured, the first of a wave of mass murders that swept across America over the past decade.

"We were extremely disappointed by it, but frankly not shocked," said Tom Mauser of Colorado Ceasefire, a gun violence prevention political action committee formed in 2000.

"The national ruling said to justify a firearm regulation, the government must demonstrate that the ruling is consistent with the tradition of firearm regulation, a very broad statement -- but with New York, they ignored that," Mauser told KGNU radio on Monday.

"They basically said, 'I don't want any form of gun regulation,'" he said of the high court's landmark ruling on June 23 that struck down a 100-year-old law allowing the State of New York to restrict the issuance of concealed-carry permits.

After a mass shooting in Boulder, Colorado, last year that left 10 people dead, Colorado Ceasefire worked with the state legislature to create three gun control bills signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, including the creation of an Office of Gun Violence Prevention.

And in 2020, despite its slack concealed carry rules, Colorado passed a Red Flag bill allowing law enforcement officials to seize guns from citizens threatening people's lives, another modest gun-control measure hotly contested by Republicans beholden to the National Rifle Association (NRA), which opposes any form of gun control.

In Colorado, the open carrying of firearms is regulated by local authorities, according to the Colorado Department of Public Safety. Residents aged 21 and older can apply for a permit to carry a concealed weapon through their local sheriff's department upon meeting specific requirements, like completing a handgun safety class.

A new study finds concealed-carry laws boost gun crime by between 29 and 32 percent, primarily by triggering a surge in gun theft.

The study, released Monday by professors at Standard Law School and Duke University, looked at data from 47 cities between 1979 and 2019, Marketwatch reported on Tuesday.

"The most significant impact is that right to carry laws elevate gun theft by roughly 35 percent, introducing tens of thousands of guns into the hands of criminals or illegal gun markets each year," the study said.

"Although Colorado's concealed carry laws differ from New York's, the legality of Colorado gun restrictions could now be up for debate," KOAA News reported Monday.

Christian Samuelson, an attorney in Colorado Springs, said any gun law that can be considered too broad in restricting gun rights could now be questioned, said the report.

In New York, state lawmakers had agreed on new legislation scheduled to pass this Thursday in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling overturning the state's concealed weapons law, Spectrum NY1 news channel reported.

Under the new law, guns would be banned from hospitals, schools, government buildings, mass transit and places where alcohol is served, the report said, adding that other businesses would have to explicitly allow guns on their property.

The new legislation would require anyone obtaining a pistol permit to have 15 to 20 hours of further training, pass more extensive background checks and safely store guns at home.

In California, lawmakers on Tuesday also moved to limit where firearms may be carried and who can have them, while struggling to stay within the high court's ruling.