Gun rights advocates secure court victory

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court yesterday struck down as unconstitutional New York state’s limits on carrying concealed handguns in public, handing a victory to gun rights advocates in a nation deeply divided over how to address firearm 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 ruling could lead to many more people securing licences to carry concealed handguns in the state, and undermine similar restrictions in other states.