Supreme Court says Constitution protects right to carry a gun outside the home

The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a New York gun law enacted more than a century ago that places restrictions on carrying a concealed handgun outside the home -- an opinion marking the widest expansion of gun rights in a decade.

"Because the State of New York issues public-carry licenses only when an applicant demonstrates a special need for self-defense, we conclude that the State's licensing regime violates the Constitution," Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court's 6-3 majority.

The opinion changes the framework that lower courts will use going forward as they analyze other gun restrictions, which could include the proposals currently before Congress if they eventually become law.

"The majority's expansion of what the Second Amendment protects will have monumental ramifications far beyond carrying firearms in public -- on everything from age restrictions to assault weapons bans to limits on high-capacity magazines," said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

"We're in for a whole new slew of litigation challenging any and every gun-control measure in light of the analysis in today's ruling," Vladeck said. Critics say the ruling will impair sensible solutions they think can curb gun violence.

Only about a half dozen states have similar laws to New York's -- California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts and New Jersey -- have similar regulations, but those states are comprised of some of the most densely populated cities in the country.

Twenty-five states generally allow people to carry concealed weapons in most public spaces without any permit, background check or safety training, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

In his opinion, Thomas said that going forward the government "may not simply posit that the regulation promotes and important interest," instead he said the judges must look to text and history when deciding whether a law passes muster.

"Only if a firearm regulation is consistent with this Nation's historical tradition may a court conclude that the individual's conduct falls outside the Second Amendment's unqualified command," Thomas said.

"We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual's right to carry a hand- gun for self-defense outside the home." President Joe Biden, who is working with Congress on gun control legislation, said he is "deeply disappointed" with the decision.

"This ruling contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all," Biden said in a statement. "In the wake of the horrific attacks in Buffalo and Uvalde, as well as the daily acts of gun violence that do not make national headlines, we must do more as a society -- not less -- to protect our fellow Americans."