The Supreme Court ruled in favor of a large expansion of gun rights on Thursday morning, prompting immediate outrage from the hosts of “The View.”
In a 6-3 decision, the court struck down a New York law that requires people to demonstrate a specific need for carrying a gun in public in order to get a license to do so. In their ruling, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the Constitution protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.”
The decision came down just minutes before “The View” started, and so for the most part, the hosts were simply stunned at the start of the show.
“The implications, we don’t know, really, what it actually means, but given everything New York City is going through, it seems — I don’t even have the words,” Whoopi Goldberg said as she tried to formulate her thoughts.
Guest host Ana Navarro tried to help Whoopi out by supplying the word “stupid” to describe the decision, but that wasn’t quite enough.
“It’s such a middle finger to New York,” Whoopi said. “It’s a middle finger to New York because, you know, we have been trying to figure out how to get a handle on all that has been going on in this city in particular with gun laws. And it makes you wonder: What does this mean?”
As the women speculated on the ruling’s larger impact, host Sara Haines admitted that she’s nervous about how many people will simply be collateral damage in potential altercations. You can watch the full segment from “The View” in the video above.
“This is scary because, in addition to a lot of guns, people will say, ‘Well, now I’m able to protect myself,’ and, ‘A good guy with a gun…,’ and all the different sayings,” Haines said. “The problem here is so many people get hit by these guns — when you read the news headlines everyday of children crossing the street, people that were doing nothing — because everyone decided to be a good guy with a gun and shoot.”
She continued: “And in a populous place like New York City, with so many people, already so many illegal guns, now giving people a pass to take that upon themselves? It’s a really scary prospect to walk out in the streets with that.”
For host Sunny Hostin, the big concern now is the bipartisan gun reform bill that is expected to be advanced by the Senate on Thursday. This bill would close the “boyfriend loophole” and increase background checks for any potential gun buyers under the age of 21, among other things, and is the first major effort to reform gun violence in the country in years.
But, thanks to the Supreme Court’s ruling, Hostin has very little hope that it will pass. And if it does, she doesn’t think it’ll stand.
“Gun reform legislation is dead on arrival now, in my view,” Hostin said. “Because of this. Because any legislation that is passed — I don’t think it’s gonna pass — is going to be challenged in court, and the Supreme Court now has said, ‘You have the right to carry a gun if there’s a self-defense reason any time, any place, anywhere.’”