After the Bruen decision, New York Governor Kathy Hochul sighed the most restrictive concealed carry bill into law.  It effectively turned New York into a gun free zone, banning concealed carry in all public places and private places that did not post explicit permission to carry.

The Governor made this statement about the law:

“In response to the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down New York’s century-old concealed carry law, we took swift and thoughtful action to keep New Yorkers safe,” Governor Hochul said. “I refuse to surrender my right as Governor to protect New Yorkers from gun violence or any other form of harm. In New York State, we will continue leading the way forward and implementing common sense gun safety legislation.”

Even while a judge has halted several provisions of this law after a number of suits have been filed, the State of New Jersey just passed an even more restrictive gun law, A4769.

This is the New Jersey Governor’s statement:

“What kind of state do we want to be? Do we want to be like Mississippi or Alabama, whose firearm death rates are nearly five times ours, or do we want to remain a state where people can actually be and feel safe?” Murphy said at a bill signing event flanked by gun control advocates in red “Moms Demand Action” shirts. “This law ensures that no matter what Washington might throw at us, we will keep doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our citizens.”

It’s clear, from their own admissions, that they passed these laws explicitly to do a run around the Bruen decision.  They want to deny citizens the right to carry and they will write their laws in such as way as to deny citizens their constitutional rights while maliciously complying with the strictest language of Bruen.

The Supreme Court made it clear that it believed the Second Amendment meant the right to bear Arms in public and these states gave the Court and their citizens a big middle finger.

It is a shame how the Supreme Court is treated as a second class branch of a co-equal branch of government.  States regularly try to weasel out of complying with Court decisions.  Especially Blue states when it comes to gun rights decisions.

Since I’m no longer a Conservative, I am ready for some authoritarianism on behalf of the Court.

When the Court establishes a right, like the right to carry concealed, and a state instantly comes up with a law explicitly to counter the Court’s decision, arrest the state government for contempt of Court.

The idea of the states as laboratories of democracy doesn’t give them the right to violate the Constitution. That’s established in the United States.

That needs to be enforced.

New York and New Jersey need to be punished for this in a meaningful way that sends a message “you don’t get to runaround the Supreme Court and the Bill of Rights.”