Supreme Court says Americans have right to carry guns in public

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Activists protest gun violence in New York City on June 23, 2022 as the US Supreme Court ruled that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public. (AFP)
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Updated 24 June 2022
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Supreme Court says Americans have right to carry guns in public

  • The 6-3 decision strikes down a more than century-old New York law on gun control
  • President Biden denounced the decision, saying it “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution”

WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public, a landmark decision with far-reaching implications for states and cities across the country confronting a surge in gun violence.
The 6-3 decision strikes down a more than century-old New York law that required a person to prove they had a legitimate self-defense need to receive a permit to carry a concealed handgun outside the home.
Five other states, including California, and Washington, the nation’s capital, have similar laws and the ruling will curb their ability to restrict people from carrying guns in public.
Democratic President Joe Biden denounced the decision, saying it “contradicts both common sense and the Constitution, and should deeply trouble us all.”
“We must do more as a society — not less — to protect our fellow Americans,” Biden said. “I call on Americans across the country to make their voices heard on gun safety.”
Despite growing calls for limits on firearms after two horrific mass shootings in May, the court sided with plaintiffs who said the US Constitution guarantees the right to own and carry guns.
The ruling is the first by the court in a major Second Amendment case since 2008, when it ruled that Americans have a right to keep a gun at home for self-defense.
It was a stunning victory for the National Rifle Association lobby group, which brought the case along with two New York men who had been denied gun permits.
“Today’s ruling is a watershed win for good men and women all across America and is the result of a decades-long fight the NRA has led,” NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre said in a statement.
“The right to self-defense and to defend your family and loved ones should not end at your home.”

'Dark day'

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it a “dark day,” and vowed to enact gun control legislation.
“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,” Hochul said.
California’s governor Gavin Newsom termed the decision “shameful.”
“This is a dangerous decision from a court hell-bent on pushing a radical ideological agenda and infringing on the rights of states to protect our citizens from being gunned down in our streets, schools, and churches,” Newsom tweeted.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion and was joined by the other five conservatives on the court, three of whom were nominated by former Republican president Donald Trump.
Thomas said the New York law prevents “law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.”
“We conclude that the State’s licensing regime violates the Constitution,” Thomas said.
New York prohibits open carrying of handguns and rifles and the court ruling does not affect that since it was narrowly focused on the state requirements for a permit to carry a concealed handgun.
Just hours after the court ruling, the Senate moved in a different direction, passing a rare bipartisan bill that includes modest gun control measures.
“The gun safety bill we are passing tonight can be described with three adjectives: bipartisan, commonsense, lifesaving,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The breakthrough is the work of a cross-party group of senators who have been hammering out the details and resolving disputes for weeks.
The lawmakers had been scrambling to finish the negotiations quickly enough to capitalize on the momentum generated by the fatal shooting of 19 children in Uvalde, Texas and of 10 Black people at a supermarket in Buffalo, upstate New York, both last month.
In both cases, the gunmen were teens and used AR-15 style assault weapons.

The New York state law the Supreme Court overturned dated to 1913 and had stood based on the understanding that individual states had the right to regulate gun usage and ownership.
It said that to be given a permit to carry a concealed handgun outside the home, an applicant must clearly demonstrate “proper cause” — that it is explicitly needed for self-defense.
Gun-rights advocates said that violated the Second Amendment, which says “the right of people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
The three liberal justices on the Supreme Court dissented to the ruling.
“Many states have tried to address some of the dangers of gun violence,” Justice Stephen Breyer said. “The Court today severely burdens states’ efforts to do so.”
Half of the 50 US states allow permitless carry of concealed firearms in public places while the other 25 allow it in some form.
Over the past two decades more than 200 million guns have hit the US market, led by assault rifles and personal handguns, feeding a surge in murders, mass shootings and suicides.


Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

Updated 23 June 2025
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Bangladesh probe into Hasina-era abuses warns ‘impunity’ remains

  • The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses

DHAKA: A Bangladesh government-appointed commission investigating hundreds of disappearances by the security forces under ousted premier Sheikh Hasina on Monday warned that the same “culture of impunity” continues.
The Commission of Inquiry into Enforced Disappearances is probing abuses during the rule of Hasina, whose government was accused of widespread human rights abuses.
That includes the extrajudicial killing of hundreds of political opponents and the unlawful abduction and disappearance of hundreds more.
The commission was established by interim leader, Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, 84, who is facing intense political pressure as parties jostle for power ahead of elections expected early next year.
Bangladesh has a long history of military coups and the army retains a powerful role.
“Enforced disappearances in Bangladesh were not isolated acts of wrongdoing, but the result of a politicized institutional machinery that condoned, normalized, and often rewarded such crimes,” the commission said, in a section of a report released by the interim government on Monday.
“Alarmingly, this culture of impunity continues even after the regime change on August 5, 2024.”
The commission has verified more than 250 cases of enforced disappearances spanning the 15 years that Hasina’s Awami League was in power.
Commission chief Moyeenul Islam Chowdhury said earlier this month that responsibility lay with individual officers, who were “involved in conducting enforced disappearances,” but not the armed forces as an institution.
Earlier this month, a joint statement by rights groups — including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch — called on the security forces to “fully cooperate with the commission by guaranteeing unfettered and ongoing access to all detention centers... and providing free access to records regarding those seized or detained.”
Hasina,77, remains in self-imposed exile in India, where she fled after she was ousted last year.
She has defied orders to return to Dhaka to face charges amounting to crimes against humanity. Her trial in absentia continues.


Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

Updated 23 June 2025
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Greenpeace joins protests against gala Bezos wedding in Venice

  • Some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating

VENICE: Global environmental lobby Greenpeace added its voice on Monday to protests against this week’s celebrity wedding in Venice between American tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Laura Sanchez.
The event, expected to attract some 200 guests including US President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, as well as scores of stars from film, fashion and business, has been dubbed “the wedding of the century.”
But some locals see the celebration as the latest sign of the brash commodification of a beautiful but fragile city that has long been overrun with tourism while steadily depopulating.
Activists from Greenpeace Italy and UK group “Everyone hates Elon” (Musk) unfolded a giant banner in central St. Mark’s Square with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.”
Local police arrived to talk to activists and check their identification documents, before they rolled up their banner.
“The problem is not the wedding, the problem is the system. We think that one big billionaire can’t rent a city for his pleasure,” Simona Abbate, one of the protesters, told Reuters.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have defended the wedding, arguing that it will bring an economic windfall to local businesses, including the motor boats and gondolas that operate its myriad canals.
Zaia said the celebrations were expected to cost 20-30 million euros ($23-$34 million).
Bezos will also make sizable charity donations, including a million euros for Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper and the ANSA news agency reported on Sunday.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung from St. Mark’s bell tower and from the famed Rialto bridge, while locals threatened peaceful blockades against the event, saying Venice needed public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism.
The exact dates and locations of the glitzy nuptials are being kept confidential, but celebrations are expected to play out over three days, most likely around June 26-28.


Beijing issues weather warning for hottest days of year

Updated 23 June 2025
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Beijing issues weather warning for hottest days of year

  • An orange heat warning — the second-highest in a three-tier system — was issued on Monday as officials encouraged people to limit outdoor activity and drink more fluids to avoid heatstroke

BEIJING: Beijing residents sought shade and cooled off in canals on Monday as authorities issued the second-highest heat warning for the Chinese capital on one of its hottest days of the year so far.
China has endured a string of extreme summers in recent years, with heatwaves baking northern regions even as parts of the south have seen catastrophic rain and flooding.
Authorities in the city of 22 million people urged the public to take precautions, with temperatures expected to peak at around 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.
“It’s been really hot lately, especially in the past few days,” intern Li Weijun told AFP on Monday afternoon.
The 22-year-old said he had stopped wearing formal clothes to work and delayed his daily exercise until after 10:00 p.m. to stay safe.
“I think it’s related to climate change, and maybe also to the damage done to nature,” he said.
An orange heat warning — the second-highest in a three-tier system — was issued on Monday as officials encouraged people to limit outdoor activity and drink more fluids to avoid heatstroke.
Construction workers should “shorten the amount of time consecutively spent at labor,” while elderly, sick or weakened individuals ought to “avoid excessive exertion,” according to the guidelines.
Zhang Chen, 28, said she carried an umbrella outdoors to prevent sunburn.
“I used to ride a bike, but once it gets this hot, I basically stop doing that,” the IT worker told AFP.
Despite the beating sun, legions of delivery drivers zipped through downtown areas at noon to bring sustenance to Beijing’s office workers.
A few lazed on the backs of their scooters in a shady spot, while elsewhere, people cooled off with ice creams or by taking a dip in the city’s canals.


Beijing is still a few degrees short of breaking its record for the hottest-ever June day, set at 41.1C in 2023.
Human greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change that causes longer, more frequent and more intense heatwaves.
China is the world’s largest producer of carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, though it has pledged to bring its emissions to a peak by the end of this decade and to net zero by 2060.
The country has also emerged as a global leader in renewable energy in recent years as it seeks to pivot its massive economy away from highly polluting coal consumption.
In a shady spot near an office building, 42-year-old Lucy Lu spent her lunch break with friends, kicking a shuttlecock through the air — a traditional Chinese game known as “jianzi.”
“I was born and raised in Beijing, and summer here has always been like this,” she said.
“But I do think when the temperature goes over 40C, there should be some time off or work-from-home options to reduce the risk of heatstroke.”


UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament

Updated 23 June 2025
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UK police ban Palestine Action protest outside parliament

  • The pro-Palestinian organization is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza

LONDON: British police have banned campaign group Palestine Action from protesting outside parliament on Monday, a rare move that comes after two of its members broke into a military base last week and as the government considers banning the organization.
The group said in response that it had changed the location of its protest on Monday to Trafalgar Square, which lies just outside the police exclusion zone.
The pro-Palestinian organization is among groups that have regularly targeted defense firms and other companies in Britain linked to Israel since the start of the conflict in Gaza.
British media have reported that the government is considering proscribing, or effectively banning, Palestine Action, as a terrorist organization, putting it on a par with Al-Qaeda or Daesh.
London’s Metropolitan Police said late on Sunday that it would impose an exclusion zone for a protest planned by Palestine Action outside the Houses of Parliament — a popular location for protests in support of a range of causes.
“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” Met Police Commissioner Mark Rowley said.
“We have laid out to Government the operational basis on which to consider proscribing this group.”
Palestine Action’s members are alleged to have caused millions of pounds of criminal damage, assaulted a police officer with a sledgehammer and, in the incident last week, damaged two military aircraft, Rowley added.


Italy against suspending EU-Israel accord, foreign minister says

Updated 23 June 2025
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Italy against suspending EU-Israel accord, foreign minister says

ROME: Italy is against a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement over alleged human rights violations in Gaza, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on Monday.
“Our position is different from that of Spain,” Tajani said on the sidelines of a meeting with EU colleagues in Brussels, referring to Spain’s support for a suspension of the deal.
Tajani said it was important to keep relations open with Israel, saying that this had facilitated the evacuation of some civilians out of Gaza.