According to the Supreme Court, Americans have the right to carry firearms in public.

 According to the Supreme Court, Americans have the right to carry firearms in public.

In a major decision made only weeks after another tragic school shooting, the US Supreme Court concluded on Thursday that Americans have a basic right to carry firearms in public.

The 6-3 decision nullifies a New York statute that required applicants for a gun permit to demonstrate that they had a need for self-defense and prevents other states from imposing carrying restrictions.

The court sided with supporters who said that the US Constitution guaranteed the freedom to own and carry guns, despite a growing push for restrictions on firearms following two shocking mass shootings in May.

The National Rifle Association, a powerful gun lobby, wins the court's first decision in a significant Second Amendment case in ten years.

According to a statement from NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, "Today's verdict represents a watershed win for good men and women all throughout America and is the outcome of a decades-long campaign the NRA has spearheaded."

"The right to defend yourself, your family, and those you love should not end at home."

The Second and Fourteenth Amendments preserve a person's right to carry a weapon for self-defense outside the home, according to Justice Clarence Thomas, who provided the majority opinion.

By restricting law-abiding persons' ability to employ their Second Amendment right to keep and bear guns in public for self-defense, New York's proper-cause legislation violates the Fourteenth Amendment.

A rare bipartisan bill with modest gun control provisions is presently being debated in the US Senate.

In a Buffalo, New York, supermarket on May 14, an 18-year-old killed 10 African Americans by using an assault weapon similar to the AR-15.

Less than two weeks later, another youngster using the same high-powered, semi-automatic rifle shot and killed 19 children and two instructors at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.

According to New York law, in order to be granted a permission to carry a firearm outside the home, a gun owner must adamantly prove that the weapon is specifically required for self-defense; those who lack this justification were prohibited from doing so.

The Second Amendment of the Constitution, which states that "the right of the people to keep and bear weapons must not be infringed," is violated, according to proponents of gun rights.

With the majority only doing so in the last ten years, more than half of US states now permit the open carrying of weapons.

However, more than 20 continue to impose restrictions that they may now be required to remove in light of the court's decision.

In its decision, the court struck down a 1913 New York state statute that had been upheld under the presumption that each state has the power to control the possession and use of firearms.

More than 200 million weapons, primarily assault rifles and personal pistols, have entered the US market over the previous 20 years, fueling an increase in homicides, mass shootings, and suicides.