Los Angeles - In yesterday's decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court of the United States adopted a misguided, politically motivated, unprecedented interpretation of the second Amendment. In doing so, it has essentially nullified common sense public safety regulations requiring persons carrying firearms in public to obtain a permit attesting to their need to do so. This decision may eviscerate many of the laws of California and other states that have effectively saved lives. The Courts decision, supported by all three of the justices nominated by former President Trump, defies common sense as well as the Courts own precedent. This opinion ignores the clearly stated purpose of the Second Amendment: maintenance of a well regulated militia. Private individuals carrying firearms in public on their own authority do not constitute a well regulated militia, they present a clear and present danger to public safety.
In fact, decades ago, Chief Justice of the United States Warren Burger, a Nixon appointee, described the interpretation of the Second Amendment now adopted by the Court as a fraud on the American public.
Too many Americans already attempt to settle disagreements by shooting each other in our streets and public places. Arguments that would otherwise end with heated words, or at worst lead to unarmed violence, too easily escalate to an exchange of gunfire. Removing firearms from the public square was the first step toward building a civil society in Los Angeles and the rest of the American West in the 19th century. Todays Supreme Court decision threatens a return to the lawlessness of the frontier era.
Today, I have introduced a motion in the City Council, instructing the City Attorney to determine what legal recourse is available to us in our City and our State to uphold the sensible restrictions on the public carrying of firearms that previous generations took for granted as a necessary precondition of civilized life.