Of all the eyes focused on the U.S. Supreme Court as it prepares to hear arguments in the controversy over so-called “assault weapons” on December 2, those of New York City officials will be on the front row.
That’s because the city’s sweeping prohibition on semi-automatic rifles, enacted in 1991, could be headed to the trash heap of misguided laws that are no more.
Higher population should not equate to lesser freedom
New York Police Department (NYPD) officials submitted an amicus brief to the High Court, and their position is startling. Because of the dense population of the nation’s largest metropolitan area, its citizens do not enjoy the same constitutional protections as those of all other Americans.
The brief acknowledged that violent acts involving firearms dipped to “historic lows” in 2026 but made a shocking claim that should trouble civil libertarians: “The Second Amendment should pose no barrier to New York City and New York State choosing a different path for protecting our officers and the public.”
A different path?
Apply the same reasoning to the freedoms of speech, religion, and the press. Do Gotham authorities have the right to suppress these fundamental liberties in the name of the “common good?” Of course not.
Yet they boldly assert that the Bill of Rights that has protected the people for well over two centuries is “no barrier” to their political goals.
SCOTUS already shot down a similar scheme in Hawaii
This is a slippery slope obvious to any thinking person. And it follows the same logic that Hawaii officials trotted out when they laughably claimed that the “Aloha Spirit” supersedes the U.S. Constitution.
The Supreme Court brushed that silliness aside in its 6-3 ruling earlier this year in Wolford v. Lopez, concluding that local traditions hardly create a carveout for leaders to trample on Second Amendment rights.
New York authorities should see that as the handwriting on the wall. Cities and states do not parcel out freedoms on whims, and they exist primarily to protect these liberties from all who would violate them–including themselves.
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