Supreme Court strikes down New York gun law along ideological lines

The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of gun owners who want to carry their weapons outside the home, striking down New York state’s rules giving local officials broad authority to deny such permits for almost any reason.

The 6-3 decision, which divided the court along the usual ideological lines, is the latest in a series of moves by the increasingly conservative high court to adopt a muscular interpretation of the right to bear arms found in the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

The ruling expanding gun rights came as the nation is reeling from a series of high-profile mass shootings, as Congress seems poised to enact the first major gun-safety legislation in more than three decades, and as the court’s own members appear to be increasingly under physical threat.