CNN's Jeffrey Toobin rails against Supreme Court gun rights decision
CNN's legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin argued the Supreme Court's decision that a restrictive gun law in New York was unconstitutional meant that there would soon be no restrictions at all on the ability to get and carry a gun in this country.
The Supreme Court struck down a restrictive gun-carry law in New York on Thursday, resulting in a meltdown from liberal analysts on CNN.
In a 6-3 majority opinion, the Court ruled in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, that New York put an unconstitutional burden on citizens applying for concealed carry permits by requiring they demonstrate a "special need" for protection.
CNN’s liberal panel blasted the Court’s decision to uphold New York citizens’ rights under the Constitution.
A police officer maintains a watch during a demonstration by victims of gun violence in front of the Supreme Court. A helicopter landed near the building Friday after someone tried lighting himself on fire. (Joshua Roberts)
Immediately after the ruling was released, legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin balked at Justice Clarence Thomas writing in the Court's opinion that the constitutionally protected right to carry a gun for self-protection was "not a second-class right."
"You know, we know that in the United States you have the right under the First Amendment to say pretty much anything anywhere because we have freedom of speech in the United States. What the conservatives on the Supreme Court are saying is we want the Second Amendment to be a first class right like the First Amendment," Toobin griped.
The CNN analyst then accused conservatives of wanting absolutely no restrictions or regulations on the ability to carry guns.
FILE - Lawyer and author Jeffrey Toobin attends the 2018 PEN Literary Gala in New York on May 22, 2018. Toobin has been suspended by the New Yorker and is stepping away from his job as CNN’s senior legal analyst pending what the cable network is calling a "personal matter." (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
"And [they] want to be able to carry guns anywhere anytime without any sort of regulation by the government, without background checks, without restrictions on where you can take a weapon, without restrictions on how you can carry a weapon," he claimed.
Later he added that the Court had "expanded" the Second Amendment, and it was unclear whether they had "completely eliminated the possibility for any sort of gun regulation."
"CNN Newsroom" host Jim Sciutto fretted what this ruling meant for other "gun safety" laws around the country. Toobin suggested that the Court's decision would lead to more mass shootings.
DEMOCRATS RAISE ALARM AFTER SUPREME COURT STRIKES NY CONCEALED CARRY LAW
A banner hangs at a memorial outside Robb Elementary School on Friday, June 3. (AP/Eric Gay)
"We can't separate this issue from what is going on in the world where, you know, we have a tremendous problem with gun violence in this country. We have mass shootings. We have 18-year-olds with access to AR-15s. And the Supreme Court is moving in the direction of saying that the government cannot regulate that traffic at all," he complained.
This week, Toobin also attacked the Court ruling in favor of the rights of religious schools, claiming the Court was tearing down the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.
Later on CNN, he claimed there was a "lot of right-wing terrorism in this country" ignoring recent patterns of left-wing violence against conservative justices and pro-life pregnancy clinics.
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