XPost: alt.politics.usa.constitution, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   XPost: law.court.federal, alt.politics.trump   
   From: noreply@mixmin.net   
      
   WASHINGTON  — Do licensed gun owners have a right to carry a loaded   
   weapon into stores, restaurants and other private places that are open   
   to the public?   
      
   California and Hawaii are among five states with new laws that forbid   
   carrying firearms onto private property without the consent of an owner   
   or manager. But the Trump administration joined gun-rights advocates on   
   Tuesday in urging the Supreme Court to strike down the laws as   
   unconstitutional under the 2nd Amendment.   
      
   Such a law “effectively nullifies licenses to carry arms in public,”   
   Trump’s lawyers said.   
      
   If you stop at a gasoline station, “you’re committing a crime” if you do   
   not have the owner’s consent, Deputy Solicitor Gen. Sarah Harris told   
   the court.   
      
   An attorney representing Hawaii said the issue is one of property   
   rights, not gun rights.   
      
   “An invitation to shop is not an invitation to bring your Glock,”   
   Washington attorney Neal Katyal told the court. “There is no   
   constitutional right to assume that every invitation to enter private   
   property includes an invitation to bring a gun.”   
      
   The justices sounded split along the usual ideological lines, with the   
   court’s conservatives signaling they are likely to strike down the new   
   laws in five Democratic-led states.   
      
   “You are just relegating the 2nd Amendment to second-class status,”   
   Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. told Katyal.   
      
   He said the court had ruled law-abiding persons have a right to carry a   
   firearm for self-defense when they leave home. That would include going   
   to stores or businesses that are open to the public.   
      
   “Could Hawaii enact a statute that says that if you are wearing attire   
   expressing approval of a particular political candidate, you can’t come   
   in unless you get express consent from the owner of the restaurant?”   
   Alito asked.   
      
   Both sides agreed that business owners are generally free to allow or   
   prohibit guns on their property. However, state officials said, the laws   
   are important because business owners rarely post signs that either   
   welcome or forbid the carrying of guns.   
      
   “Why is this a big deal? If they want people carrying guns to stay out,   
   just put up a sign,” Alito said.   
      
   At times, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. has been wary of extending   
   gun rights under the 2nd Amendment, but not on Tuesday. He said he was   
   concerned the 2nd Amendment and the right to bear arms has been treated   
   as a “disfavored right.”   
      
   A candidate for office has “a very clear constitutional right under the   
   1st Amendment to walk up to your door on private property and knock on   
   the door and say, give me your vote,” he said. “You say it’s different   
   when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. When a candidate is carrying a gun,   
   what exactly is the basis for the distinction?”   
      
   Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh said   
   they too believed the “right to keep and bear arms” included the right   
   to carry weapons, including into stores.   
      
   Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Ketanji Brown Jackson said property rights   
   should prevail over gun rights.   
      
   “Is there a constitutional right to enter private property with a gun   
   without an owner’s express or implicit consent? The answer has to be   
   simply no,” Sotomayor said. “You can’t enter an owner’s property   
   without   
   their consent.”   
      
   But with the possible exception of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, none of   
   the conservatives agreed.   
      
   Four years ago, the court ruled law-abiding gun owners had a right to   
   carry a concealed weapon for self-defense when they left home. They also   
   said then that guns may be prohibited in “sensitive places,” but they   
   did not decide what that meant.   
      
   In the wake of that decision, California, Hawaii, New York, New Jersey   
   and Maryland adopted new laws that restricted carrying guns in public   
   places, including parks and beaches.   
      
   The laws also said gun owners may not take a gun into a privately owned   
   business without the “express authorization” of an owner or manager.   
   California’s law went a step further and said the owner must post a   
   clear sign allowing guns.   
      
   The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the laws from Hawaii and   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)