By Jon Schuppe
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN – A Supreme Court ruling striking down Chicago’s handgun ban will have no effect on New York City’s firearm regulations, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.
The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Monday that the Second Amendment right to bear arms applies to local gun laws. But it left open the possibility that cities could impose laws that fall short of an all-out ban like Chicago's.
The ruling, along with a similar 2008 decision that allowed people to own guns in Washington D.C., “both make clear that we can work to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and terrorists while at the same time respecting the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens,” Bloomberg said in a prepared statement.
New York “has always” maintained that balance, he said.
Kelly added in his own prepared statement that the NYPD’s gun-licensing procedures “provide reasonable safeguards while observing the rights of the law-abiding public.”
Bloomberg is a vigorous advocate of gun control, and has irked authorities in other states by sending private investigators to southern gun shops to show how relatively easy it is to bring guns to New York. He promised to continue his effort “to collaborate with mayors across the country to pursue common-sense, constitutional approaches to protecting public safety.”
