New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) slammed the Supreme Court Thursday for its decision to strike down a New York state law that limits who can conceal carry weapons.
Hochul told reporters at a school safety bill signing shortly after the Supreme Court decision that the ruling was “outrageous.”
“It is outrageous that at a moment of national reckoning on gun violence, the Supreme Court has recklessly struck down a New York law that limits those who can carry concealed weapons,” she said.
Hochul emphasized that her administration is closely reviewing its options in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court 6-3 decision to invalidate New York’s law and raised the possibility of calling a special session of the New York State Legislature.
The decision comes amid intense public debate over gun control measures and Second Amendment rights in the wake of two horrific mass shootings in Hochul’s state and in Uvalde, Texas.
“Does everyone understand what a concealed weapon means? That you have no forewarning that someone can hide a weapon on them and go into our subways. Go into our grocery stores like stores up in Buffalo, N.Y., run from going to a school in Parkland or Uvalde. This could place millions of New Yorkers in harm’s way,” she said.
Hochul further blasted the decision of the court calling it “frightful in its scope of how they are setting back this nation and our ability to protect our citizens.”
She added that the Supreme Court decision came at a particularly painful time and was sending “us backwards” at a moment when families are still dealing with the pain from the shooting in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo.
“It’s not what New Yorkers want and we should have the right of determination of what we want to do in terms of our gun laws in our state,” she added.
Hochul added that the law that was struck down has been in place since the early 1900s and called the decision “reprehensible.”
“Just as we swiftly passed nation-leading gun reform legislation, I will continue to do everything in my power to keep New Yorkers safe from gun violence,” she added.