{"id":217930,"date":"2022-10-14T17:31:00","date_gmt":"2022-10-14T21:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=217930"},"modified":"2022-10-14T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2022-10-14T21:39:09","slug":"the-constitutional-right-to-carry-firearms-in-public-will-harm-public-health","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2022\/the-constitutional-right-to-carry-firearms-in-public-will-harm-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"The Constitutional Right to Carry Firearms in Public Will Harm Public Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin sphnews-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-media-focus-left-middle has-text-position-x-right\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1280\" height=\"700\" src=\"\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner.png\" class=\"\" alt=\"Gun in a holster\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner.png 1280w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-636x348.png 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-1024x560.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-768x420.png 768w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-755x413.png 755w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-900x492.png 900w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/files\/2022\/10\/gun-in-holster-webbanner-1200x656.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1280px) 100vw, 1280px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">guns<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t&#8216;The Constitutional Right to Carry Firearms in Public Will Harm Public Health&#8217;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\">In a new commentary, Michael Ulrich explains the negative consequences of the Supreme Court&#8217;s ruling this past June that declared the Constitution protects an individual&#8217;s right to carry a gun in public.<\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar sphnews-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">October 14, 2022<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/authors\/jillian-mckoy\/\">Jillian McKoy<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<p>In a landmark ruling last June, the US Supreme Court declared that Americans have a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public places, arguing that a century-old New York law requiring a \u201cproper cause\u201d to carry a gun outside of the home is a violation of Second Amendment rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/20-843_7j80.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen<\/a><\/em> case stemmed from a lawsuit two New York men filed after they were denied licenses to carry a firearm because they could not prove that they had a particular need, beyond self-defense, to carry them in public. In the first major Supreme Court ruling on guns in more than a decade, the court declared that this denial was unconstitutional, putting into question the ability of other states to enforce similar public-carry laws\u2014including those in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBecause 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\u2019s licensing regime violates the Constitution,\u201d Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in the 6-3 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/opinions\/21pdf\/20-843_7j80.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">majority opinion<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reversing the long-held basis for gun licensing and public carry on sufficient reasoning (known as a \u201cmay-issue\u201d framework) will harm public health, writes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/profile\/michael-ulrich\/\">Michael Ulrich<\/a>, assistant professor of health law, ethics &amp; human rights, in a new commentary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMp2210269\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">published in the <em>New England Journal of Medicine<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIn striking down the law, the Court paid no attention to escalating gun homicides\u2014which have reached rates this country has not seen in decades\u2014or to the fact that the law was New York\u2019s attempt to balance protection of Second Amendment rights with public safety,\u201d Ulrich writes. \u201cUltimately, all that mattered was the right of \u2018law-abiding citizens\u2019\u2014an ambiguous term not further defined\u2014to decide they wanted to carry a gun to protect themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories is-style-list alignright sphnews-block-editorial-relatedstories\">\n\t\t<h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-title\">Related<\/h3>\n\t\t<ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-list-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<article class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-category\"><span>gun violence<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/news\/articles\/2019\/professor-presents-gun-violence-research-at-health-law-workshop\/\" class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-title-link\">Professor Presents Gun Violence Research at Health Law Workshop<\/a><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-relatedstories-article-date\">October 15, 2019<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p>Comprehensive research has shown that lenient concealed carry policies often lead to an increase in gun violence, and also overlook the underlying causes of this violence, such as poverty and stable housing, Ulrich argues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Increasing the number of firearms in public is also likely to exacerbate racial disparities in gun violence, racial injustice, and mental health conditions, he cautions. \u201cWe need only consider well-known cases such as those of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2016\/7\/7\/12116288\/minnesota-police-shooting-philando-castile-falcon-heights-video\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philando Castile<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2015\/01\/23\/us\/in-tamir-rice-shooting-in-cleveland-many-errors-by-police-then-a-fatal-one.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Tamir Rice<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cincinnati.com\/story\/news\/2020\/05\/14\/settlement-reached-2014-walmart-fatal-police-shooting-john-crawford\/5189384002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">John Crawford<\/a> to recognize the high prevalence of racial biases and prejudice in law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the\u00a0opinion,\u00a0Thomas also declared that courts need to consider the country\u2019s \u201chistorical tradition\u201d when determining whether a firearm law is constitutional. This position, Ulrich writes, is unnecessarily narrow and restrictive, which will ultimately reverse critical gun restrictions currently in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cSetting aside the problems with relying on policies that were in force at the country\u2019s founding (such as legal slavery) and during Reconstruction (Black Codes and lynching), the notion that the policies available for addressing modern gun violence are limited to those that held sway hundreds of years ago is illogical,\u201d he writes, adding that this standard also threatens restrictions on assault-style weapons such as the AR-15, as well as bans on large-capacity magazines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWork to stem gun violence can and will persist, including efforts currently under way in New York and California, but the Supreme Court\u2019s elevation of history above all other concerns has undoubtedly created a much more difficult path forward to accomplish that goal,\u201d Ulrich concludes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nejm.org\/doi\/full\/10.1056\/NEJMp2210269\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Click here<\/a> to read the full commentary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a landmark ruling last June, the US Supreme Court declared that Americans have a constitutional right to carry a firearm in public places, arguing that a century-old New York law requiring a \u201cproper cause\u201d to carry a gun outside of the home is a violation of Second Amendment rights. The New York State Rifle [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15205,"featured_media":217956,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"guns","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[2102,3243,1866,2178,1976,3649,2629,2022,3887],"bu-publication":[3516],"sphnews-article-category":[3519,3531,3535,3540,3545],"sphnews-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"profile_tax":[2155],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/217930"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217930"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/217930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218084,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/217930\/revisions\/218084"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-article-category?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"sphnews-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sphnews-topic?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=217930"},{"taxonomy":"profile_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sph\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile_tax?post=217930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}