Gun owners may carry a weapon into stores, Supreme Court rules, rejecting a California law

Gun owners may carry a weapon into stores, Supreme Court rules, rejecting a California law

The 6-3 decision extends gun rights and strikes down laws in Hawaii, California, New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The three liberals dissented, saying the law infringes property rights.

Licensed gun owners have a right to carry a concealed firearm into stores and other private places unless the owner objects, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, in the case of Wolford vs. Lopez. Those measures would prohibit carrying guns onto private property that is open to the public unless the owner has expressly authorized them.

"This regime hobbles what the 2nd Amendment protects: the right of Americans to carry arms for self-defense as they go about their daily lives. We hold that the law is unconstitutional," Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. said for the court.

"While today's ruling in Wolford is disappointing, owners still have every right to decide whether firearms are allowed in their stores and businesses," said Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment Litigation at Everytown Law. "The Supreme Court may have changed the default rule, but it cannot take away a private property owner's authority over their own land."

The Firearms Policy Coalition said the court had properly protected gun rights and barred blue states from carving out their "own regional version of the 2nd Amendment." "The historical record does not support forcing peaceable people to obtain advance permission before carrying for self-defense in places held open to them," the group said.

Last week, the court upheld gun rights in a Texas case and said the government may not make it a crime for an "unlawful user" of a drug such as marijuana to own a gun.