Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Thursday praised the Supreme Court’s majority 6-3 ruling for NYSRPA v. Bruen, which established an “individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” He called it a “great decision” by Justice Clarence Thomas and identified the central issue as government bureaucrats attempting to “stymie your ability to exercise your constitutional rights.”
“So in terms of I haven’t been able to read the decision today, but from what I’ve seen, I think it was a great decision by Justice Thomas — very rarely does he do anything that is not correct,” DeSantis said, explaining that the debate has been slightly different in Florida, focusing on constitutional carry.
“I mean, I think he’s been a fantastic justice and so, you know, in Florida, I think that the debate has really been on not necessarily open carry as much as what they call constitutional carry, which in different states have done that different ways, whether it’s concealed or not,” he said, adding, “but I think the issue is what you don’t want is to have a government bureaucrat stymie your ability to exercise your constitutional rights.”
That, DeSantis said, has been the primary concern.
“I think it was definitely the right decision,” he said, pointing to states such as New York that “just do not want people to be able to exercise their rights.” That is one reason, he continued, that people are moving to the Sunshine State, as they do not feel entirely comfortable in their blue state communities.
“So all their policies have been a total failure when it comes to public safety, and I know they want to go after a lot of law-abiding citizens and their rights, but they let criminals out of jail, they don’t prosecute people the way they need to be prosecuting people, and you see it there. You saw it in San Francisco. It got so bad, they actually recalled the district attorney,” he said, noting that it is very “ideological.”
“Because the communities in San Francisco that voted to keep him in place were the more affluent communities that are somewhat immune from some of this, all the working class communities wanted them out because they’re bearing the brunt of those really bad policies,” he added.
The governor’s remarks came the same day as the majority opinion for Supreme Court in NYSRPA v. Bruen, as Breitbart News detailed:
Thomas pointed to District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010), noting in those cases SCOTUS “recognized that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right of an ordinary, law-abiding citizen to possess a handgun in the home for self-defense.”
He then turned his attention to NYSRPA v. Bruen, saying, “In this case, petitioners and respondents agree that ordinary, law-abiding citizens have a similar right to carry handguns publicly for their self-defense.”
Thomas observed, “We too agree, and now hold, consistent with Heller and McDonald, that the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”
Ultimately, the ruling determined that “the Second Amendment’s plain text thus presumptively guarantees [the NYSPRA] petitioners … a right to ‘bear’ arms in public for self-defense.”