{"id":945525,"date":"2021-10-31T13:28:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T17:28:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=945525"},"modified":"2021-10-31T13:28:46","modified_gmt":"2021-10-31T17:28:46","slug":"mark-w-smith-clever-but-wrong-inside-the-anti-gun-arguments-at-the-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/mark-w-smith-clever-but-wrong-inside-the-anti-gun-arguments-at-the-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark W. Smith: Clever but Wrong &#8212; Inside the Anti-Gun Arguments at the Supreme Court"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmark-w-smith-clever-but-wrong-inside-the-anti-gun-arguments-at-the-supreme-court%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=945525&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"subheading\">Anti-gun lawyers are both clever and relentless. That\u2019s a key point to understand as the Supreme Court takes up a major Second Amendment case,&nbsp;<em><i>New York State Rifle &amp; Pistol Association v. Bruen<\/i><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>In earlier posts (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/politics\/2021\/10\/28\/mark-w-smith-most-important-second-amendment-case-in-over-a-decade-is-on-deck\/\">here<\/a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/2nd-amendment\/2021\/10\/29\/how-new-york-is-trying-to-gut-the-second-amendment-at-the-supreme-court\/\">here<\/a>), I showed why the State of New York has a weak case for restricting the right to carry guns outside the home. According to the clear standard the Supreme Court has set, New York\u2019s gun law should not be declared constitutional. That standard, established in&nbsp;<em><i>District of Columbia v. Heller<\/i><\/em>, holds that the constitutionality of gun laws turns on the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment and gun rights during America\u2019s founding.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"D-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B1\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"gmxrevmore\" class=\"H\"><\/figure>\n<p>So, it\u2019s no surprise that New York\u2019s lawyers are pushing the Court to change the standard. They insist that an interest in promoting public safety justifies the state\u2019s restrictive public-carry law. This approach allows them to paint a picture of \u201cblood running in the streets\u201d if the Court lifts New York\u2019s restriction.<\/p>\n<p>But that picture is completely misleading. Even if, suddenly, everyone agreed to accept concerns for public safety as a standard for reviewing New York\u2019s gun law, New York\u2019s defense should fail.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4891746\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"37\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2nd-Amendment-Supreme-Crt-Jose-Luis-Magana-AP.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4891746\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/2nd-Amendment-Supreme-Crt-Jose-Luis-Magana-AP.jpg\" alt=\"horowitz\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>In this June 26, 2008 file photo, pro-rights gun supporters hold up banners outside the Supreme Court in Washington after the court ruled that Americans have a constitutional right to keep guns in their homes for self-defense. (AP Photo\/Jose Luis Magana, File)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The truth is that the best way to protect public safety is to ensure robust public-carry laws. Why? Well, it comes down to the old saying \u201cWhen guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B2\" class=\"a8d\"><\/figure>\n<p>This was a bit of wisdom America\u2019s Founders understood. One thinker who deeply influenced them was the eighteenth-century Italian criminologist Cesare Beccaria. In a passage that Thomas Jefferson copied into his personal \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.monticello.org\/site\/research-and-collections\/laws-forbid-carrying-armsspurious-quotation\">Legal Commonplace Book<\/a>,\u201d Beccaria said that laws which forbid the wearing of arms end up disarming only those \u201cwho are not disposed to commit the crime which the laws mean to prevent.\u201d Restrictive gun laws, Beccaria added, don\u2019t prevent murder but rather encourage it, \u201cas it requires less courage to attack unarmed than armed persons.\u201d He likened banning guns to depriving people of fire \u201cfor fear of their being burnt\u201d or of water \u201cfor fear of their being drowned.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Consider what will happen if the Supreme Court strikes down New York\u2019s restriction on public carry. Who will end up securing carry licenses? Law-abiding citizens. Even if New York lifts its restriction, applicants for licenses to carry would presumably still need to satisfy eligibility requirements such as confirming that they are not felons, they are not mentally ill, and that they do not use illegal drugs. A copy of the current carry&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/troopers.ny.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2020\/12\/ppb-3.pdf\">application<\/a><u>&nbsp;is here<\/u>.<\/p>\n<p>New York\u2019s lawyers ought to be aware of the data showing that concealed-carry license holders are extremely unlikely to commit crimes.&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/papers.ssrn.com\/sol3\/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3937627\">Data<\/a><u>&nbsp;<\/u>from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC), for example, indicates that while police commit firearms violations at a rate of 16.5 per 100,000 officers, the rate for permit holders in Florida and Texas is just 1.4 per 100,000, with similar data in other states. Regardless of the precise comparison with the police, permit revocation statistics make clear that carry license holders are overwhelmingly law-abiding.<\/p>\n<p>Police officers generally are entitled to carry concealed firearms in&nbsp;<em><i>every state in the nation&nbsp;<\/i><\/em>under the federal&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/926B\">Law Enforcement Officer Safety Act<\/a>. Law-abiding citizens\u2014who, after all, are their own first responders (see my video&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/teGJ0D6dUwA\">here<\/a>)\u2014should have the same right.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" readability=\"10.411764705882\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Biden Family&#8217;s arrogance and corruption are astounding. Joe Biden issued several new executive orders on gun control while his son, Hunter Biden, is accused of lying on his gun background check. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/2HDrArsSZa\">https:\/\/t.co\/2HDrArsSZa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreitbartNews\/status\/1380309083559976969?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">April 8, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<figure id=\"M-ROS-B3\" class=\"a8d adSo\"><\/figure>\n<p>Shortly after the Supreme Court\u2019s&nbsp;<em><i>Heller<\/i><\/em>&nbsp;ruling, researchers sympathetic to gun control looked at the data and concluded that permit holders posed a low risk of misusing guns. As a result, the researchers&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/chicagounbound.uchicago.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1222&amp;context=law_and_economics\">said<\/a>&nbsp;they expected \u201crelatively little public safety impact\u201d from&nbsp;<em><i>Heller<\/i><\/em>&nbsp;if public carry became more widespread.<\/p>\n<p>Crime data have borne out this prediction. Over the past two decades, the number of permit holders has grown exponentially while the violent crime rate has&nbsp;<em><i>dropped<\/i><\/em>. As recounted in an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-843\/184184\/20210719155924977_20-843%20Amicus%20Brief%20of%20Law%20Enforcement%20Groups%20et%20al_.pdf\">amicus brief<\/a>&nbsp;filed by law enforcement groups and others in&nbsp;<em><i>Bruen<\/i><\/em>, the number of concealed-carry permit holders increased from 2.7 million in 1999 to 19.48 million in 2019. And that figure actually underestimates the increase, as 21 states now allow&nbsp;<em><i>permitless<\/i><\/em>&nbsp;concealed carry, up from 1 state (Vermont) in 1999.<\/p>\n<p>But during the same period, the violent crime rate dropped by more than a quarter. The FBI&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov\/pages\/explorer\/crime\/crime-trend\">reports<\/a>&nbsp;a violent crime rate of 523 per 100,000 inhabitants in 1999; by 2020, that number had fallen to 380.8.<\/p>\n<p>Although licensed firearm carriers rarely commit crimes, thousands of gun owners use guns for self-defense&nbsp;<em><i>every day<\/i><\/em>. That is according to a new, comprehensive&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/poseidon01.ssrn.com\/delivery.php?ID=786008073006113118010115111071086026007020070051029034123120024108088089124066125074005096039059060008027077084093081094102123117017069069028109086126022024088003070055018023070122076108093089068121127066006023017110064096101064121007022109107085075101&amp;EXT=pdf&amp;INDEX=TRUE\">survey<\/a>&nbsp;conducted by Georgetown political economist Dr. William English. English surveyed thousands of gun owners, and he found that nearly one-third of them have used a firearm to defend themselves or their property. That works out to approximately 25.3 million American gun owners who have used a firearm to defend against crime\u2014meaning there are approximately 1.67 million cases of armed self-defense every year, or 4,575&nbsp;<em><i>every day<\/i><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>To be clear, in the vast majority of these defensive gun uses, merely brandishing or referring to a gun was enough to defuse the threat; only 18.1 percent of them involved actually firing a shot. (For more on the English survey and the millions of Americans who have used firearms for self-defense, see my&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Y13vrgwGai4&amp;t=8s\">video<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_9916932\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"32\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/NRA.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-9916932\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/NRA.png\" alt=\"Gun rights supporters hold signs and listen to speakers at a gun rights rally and march at the Utah State Capitol on March 2, 2013 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The rally attracted several hundred people for the march to the Utah Capitol in favor of 2nd Amendment rights as gun control supporters call for more limits and bans on assault weapons. (Photo by George Frey\/Getty Images)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em>Supporters hold signs and listen to speakers at a gun rights rally. (File\/George Frey\/Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>And if allowing private citizens to carry firearms in public is such a threat to public safety, why have so many states made their carry laws&nbsp;<em><i>less&nbsp;<\/i><\/em>restrictive? Since the 1980s, dozens of states have gone from \u201cno-issue\u201d or \u201cmay-issue\u201d laws to \u201cshall-issue,\u201d meaning applicants don\u2019t need to show good cause to receive a license. During that time,&nbsp;<em><i>not a single state has gone in the other direction<\/i><\/em>. And 19 of the 21 states to adopt permit-less carry, or \u201cconstitutional carry,\u201d have done so since 2010. (See p.5 of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/20\/20-843\/184439\/20210720172224035_NYSRPA%20v.%20Corlett%20Amicus%20FINAL.pdf\">amicus brief<\/a>&nbsp;filed by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.)<\/p>\n<p>New York, with its restrictive may-issue law, is clearly on the wrong side of history.<\/p>\n<p>But don\u2019t expect to hear any of this evidence from anti-gun lawyers in the Supreme Court\u2019s upcoming&nbsp;<em><i>Bruen&nbsp;<\/i><\/em>case. They\u2019ll trot out other arguments to try to show that public carry threatens public safety. But that evidence is weak, too, as I\u2019ll reveal tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p><strong>* Attorney Mark W. Smith is a Presidential Scholar and Senior Fellow in Law and Public Policy at The King\u2019s College, a&nbsp;<em><i>New York Times<\/i><\/em>&nbsp;bestselling author, and the Host and Producer of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=S5uV5aUxqVw\">The Four Boxes Diner<\/a>&nbsp;on YouTube, a channel providing in-depth analysis on Second Amendment scholarship, legal matters, news, and issues.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Anti-gun lawyers are both clever and relentless. That\u2019s a key point to understand as the Supreme Court takes up a major Second Amendment case,\u00a0New York State Rifle &#038; Pistol Association &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-945525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945525","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945525"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945525\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945525"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945525"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945525"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}