US Supreme Court strikes down New York's limits on concealed guns

The US Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as unconstitutional New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns in public, handing a landmark victory to gun rights advocates in a nation deeply divided over how to address firearms violence.

The 6-3 ruling, with the court's conservative justices in the majority and liberal justices in dissent, found that the state's law, enacted in 1913, violated a person’s right to ‘keep and bear arms’ under the US Constitution’s Second Amendment.

The justices overturned a lower court ruling throwing out a challenge to the law by two gun owners and the New York affiliate of the National Rifle Association, an influential gun rights group closely aligned with Republicans.

The decision represents the court's most important statement on gun rights in more than a decade. The court in 2008 recognised for the first time an individual's right to keep guns at home for self-defence in a case from the District of Columbia, and in 2010 applied that right to the states.

The new ruling underscored how the 6-3 conservative majority on the court is sympathetic to an expansive reading of Second Amendment rights.

Under the New York law's “proper cause” requirement, applicants seeking an unrestricted concealed carry permits must convince a state firearms licensing officer of an actual, rather than speculative, need for self-defence. Officials could also grant licenses restricted to certain activities, such as hunting or target practice.

The US Senate is poised later on Thursday for a vote to advance a bipartisan gun control bill that supporters hope will help curb mass shootings in what could become the first new federal gun law in decades.

To control nicotine, US bans Juul e-cigarettes

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday blocked e-cigarette maker Juul Labs Inc from selling its nicotine products in the United States,  potentially dealing a fatal blow to the once high-flying San Francisco company.
 

Following a nearly two-year-long review of scientific and public health data submitted by the company, the FDA said the applications “lacked sufficient evidence” regarding the toxicological profile of the products to demonstrate that marketing them would be appropriate for the protection of public health.
 

Juul, along with other e-cigarette brands had to meet a September 2020 deadline to file applications to the FDA showing that its products provided a net benefit to public health. (Reuters)