Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Guns and logic

Guns in New York City

The Supreme Court might disagree with this sign, writes Goldstone.

Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

Goldstone is the author of the forthcoming "Not White Enough: The Long Shameful Road to Japanese American Internment."

Ignoring the nation’s epidemic of mass shootings, in June 2022, by a 6-3 margin along ideological lines, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law that required anyone seeking a license to carry a concealed handgun outside the home to demonstrate a specific justification for the permit. Under the law an applicant could not merely use a vague, unsupported claim of “for self-defense,” but needed to document why concealed carry was necessary, such as being subjected to threats or being followed by a stalker.

Such a law was not unique to New York. Seven other states (including California and Massachusetts) and many cities, representing one-quarter of the nation’s population, also required a demonstrable need to carry concealed weapons outside the home. Without such limiting laws, since anyone could claim a desire for self-defense, there was no way to prevent even those of questionable mental health from stuffing a handgun into a pocket or purse for every trip to the post office or a 7-11.


For more than two centuries, the Second Amendment’s “right to bear arms” applied only to a “well ordered militia,” the need of which was widespread in the 1780s. But in 2008, Justice Antonin Scalia, speaking for a 5-4 majority in D.C. v. Heller, ruled that a gun kept in the home for self-defense by a private citizen was a protected right. In his majority opinion in the New York case (New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen), Justice Clarence Thomas extended that right to streets and shopping malls. In adopting the most expansive view of the Second Amendment in American history, Thomas, as had Scalia, ignored the precedent in U.S. v. Miller, a 1939 case in which a unanimous court ruled weapons with no military purpose — to wit, a sawed-off shotgun — did not come under the amendment’s purview.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Thomas claimed to be concerned about the subjectivity of allowing New York officials to decide whether someone applying for a concealed carry license had genuine need, while refusing to exhibit a similar concern as to whether a trigger-happy would-be vigilante, such as George Zimmerman, the man who gunned down Trayvon Martin, had any need at all.

To prevent its urban areas from turning into a modern Dodge City, New York responded by passing a new law prohibiting guns on private property unless the owner explicitly approved. In addition, to carry a weapon in public required a character test and 18 hours of training. With a friendly Supreme Court lurking in the wings, Gun Owners of America sued and, in October, U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby sided with them once more. The George W. Bush appointee ruled, incredibly, that New York could not ban guns from such locations as Times Square, public transit, libraries, playgrounds and public parks. Although his ruling is being appealed, there is not much hope from a Supreme Court that has abandoned both logic and law to promote its political agenda.

The real problem here is that an amendment clearly written for one purpose has been shapeshifted into another and, even worse, the original meaning of the amendment has virtually disappeared from both jurisprudence and public discourse. As a result, Second Amendment law has descended into the preposterous.

One of the most important tools for those who analyze the law, either from the bench or in the classroom, is logic. Sometimes directly, often tortuously, judges and law professors wend their way through the densest rhetoric, examining arguments for logical flaws, from which they may then base a decision to arrive at, to quote John Marshall, “what the law is.” But there is a flaw in formal logic that is not often cited in legal analysis — reductio ad absurdum, an argument that appears to follow all the rules but leads to an absurd conclusion. And the conclusion that the Second Amendment protects the right of gun-toting citizens to drag the nation into near anarchy or for government to be forced to stand helplessly by during an epidemic of mass shootings is just that — absurd. If this were theater, Samuel Beckett would write the play.

For example, if one examines the wording of the amendment, there is no definition of what arms “the people” may bear. Granting the assumption that the term “bear” means to hold personally, so that driving into the Walmart parking lot with a howitzer hooked to back of a truck or in a tank would not pass muster — although some gun people would almost surely disagree — what about a rocket-propelled grenade launcher strapped to one’s back, or a flamethrower like the one used by Leonardo DiCaprio in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”? There is no specific prohibition against such behavior, and there are certainly those in this country who are convinced they have the right to do just that. (I’ve spoken to some of them.)

One hopes that most gun fanciers would brush off this argument and acknowledge that shoulder-fired missiles are not covered by the amendment since, outside of Avengers movies, such weaponry does not have a legitimate use for self-defense. Thomas used the self-defense argument as well. Not only is it far from certain, however, that gun rights groups — or the Supreme Court — would accept even those limitations, the Second Amendment makes no mention of self-defense as a condition for bearing arms. The only condition seems to be that bearing arms should have some relationship to that illusive “well ordered militia.”

But then, what defines a militia? Is it strictly a body of armed civilians sanctioned by federal, state, or local government, or can it be a private, non-governmental group of “patriots,” such as the Proud Boys? If the latter is the case, and the decision in New York case is as it seems, these groups can gather, march or demonstrate with whatever weaponry they wish virtually anywhere, including in Times Square on New Year’s Eve. In addition, if, for example, they choose to gather near voting drop boxes or polling stations brandishing weapons, as did some right-wing patriots in Arizona, does the government have no recourse?

While many of these scenarios might seem extreme, even ridiculous, by most mainstream Americans — at least one hopes they would be — there is nothing in the text of the amendment as interpreted by the current court to prevent any of them.

The Supreme Court’s approval rating is at an all-time low. With rulings such as those that elevate the rights of gun owners over those of ordinary citizens who wish to do their Christmas shopping without fear of being slaughtered in H&M, it is easy to see why.

Read More

While Pledging To Clean Up Toxic Chemicals, EPA Guts Hundreds of Environmental Grants

EPA Administrator Zeldin speaks with reporters on Long Island, NY.

Courtesy EPA via Flickr.

While Pledging To Clean Up Toxic Chemicals, EPA Guts Hundreds of Environmental Grants

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration promised to combat toxic “forever chemicals,” while conversely canceling nearly 800 grants aimed at addressing environmental injustices, including in communities plagued with PFAS contamination.

In a court filing, the Environmental Protection Agency revealed for the first time that it intends to cancel 781 environmental justice grants, nearly double what had previously been disclosed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Policy Changes Could Derail Michigan’s Clean Energy Goals

New clean energy manufacturing plants, including for EV batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines, are being built across states like Michigan, Georgia, and Ohio.

Steve/Adobe Stock

Policy Changes Could Derail Michigan’s Clean Energy Goals

In recent years, Michigan has been aggressive in its approach to clean energy: It’s invested millions of dollars in renewable energy infrastructure, created training programs for jobs in the electric vehicle industry, and set a goal of moving the state to 100% carbon neutrality by 2050.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and other state officials aim to make the Great Lakes State a leader in clean energy manufacturing by bringing jobs and investments to local communities while also tackling pollution, which continues to wreak havoc on the environment.

Now Michigan’s clean energy efforts have seemingly hit a wall of uncertainty as President Donald Trump’s administration takes ongoing actions to roll back federal climate regulations.

“We’ve seen nothing less than an unprecedented, all-out assault on our environment and our democracy,” said Bentley Johnson, the Michigan League of Conservation Voters’ federal government affairs director.

The clean energy sector has grown rapidly in the United States since President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. Congress appropriated $370 billion under the IRA, and White House officials at the time touted it as the country’s largest investment in clean energy.

According to Climate Power, a national public relations and advocacy organization dedicated to climate justice, Michigan was the No. 1 state in the nation in 2024 in its number of clean energy projects; from 2022-2024, the state announced 74 projects totalling over 26,000 jobs and roughly $27 billion in federal funding.

Trump has long been critical of the country’s climate initiatives and development of clean energy technology. He’s previously made false claims that climate change is a hoax and wind turbines cause cancer. Since taking office again in January, Trump has tried to pause IRA funding and signed an executive order to boost coal production.

Additionally, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced in March that the agency had canceled more than 400 environmental justice grants to be used to improve air and water quality in disadvantaged communities. Senate Democrats, who released a full list of the canceled grants, accused the EPA of illegally terminating the contracts, through which funds were appropriated by Congress under the IRA. Of those 400 grants, 15 were allocated for projects in Michigan, including one to restore housing units in Kalamazoo and another to transform Detroit area food pantries and soup kitchens into emergency shelters for those in need.

Johnson said the federal government reversing course on the allotted funding has left community groups who were set to receive it in the lurch.

“That just seems wrong, to take away these public benefits that there was already an agreement — Congress has already appropriated or committed to spending this, to handing this money out, and the rug is being pulled out from under them,” Johnson said.

Climate Power has tracked clean energy projects across the country totaling $56.3 billion in projected funding and over 50,000 potential jobs that have been stalled or canceled since Trump was elected in November. Michigan accounts for seven of those projects, including Nel Hydrogen’s plans to build an electrolyzer manufacturing facility in Plymouth.

Nel Hydrogen announced an indefinite delay in the construction of its Plymouth factory in February 2025. Wilhelm Flinder, the company’s head of investor relations, communications, and marketing, cited uncertainty regarding the IRA’s tax credits for clean hydrogen production as a factor in the company’s decision, according to reporting by Hometownlife.com. The facility was expected to invest $400 million in the local community and to create over 500 people when it started production.

“America is losing nearly a thousand jobs a day because of Trump’s war against cheaper, faster, and cleaner energy. Congressional Republicans have a choice: get in line with Trump’s job-killing energy agenda or take a stand to protect jobs and lower costs for American families,” Climate Power executive director Lori Lodes said in a March statement.

Opposition groups make misleading claims about the benefits of renewable energy, such as the reliability of wind or solar energy and the land used for clean energy projects, in order to stir up public distrust, Johnson said.

In support of its clean energy goals, the state fronted some of its own taxpayer dollars for several projects to complement the federal IRA money. Johnson said the strategy was initially successful, but with sudden shifts in federal policies, it’s potentially become a risk, because the state would be unable to foot the bill entirely on its own.

The state still has its self-imposed clean energy goals to reach in 25 years, but whether it will meet that deadline is hard to predict, Johnson said. Michigan’s clean energy laws are still in place and, despite Trump’s efforts, the IRA remains intact for now.

“Thanks to the combination — I like to call it a one-two punch of the state-passed Clean Energy and Jobs Act … and the Inflation Reduction Act, with the two of those intact — as long as we don’t weaken it — and then the combination of the private sector and technological advancement, we can absolutely still make it,” Johnson said. “It is still going to be tough, even if there wasn’t a single rollback.”

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

Keep ReadingShow less
A Missed Opportunity

Broken speech bubbles.

Getty Images, MirageC

A Missed Opportunity

en español

In a disappointing turn of events, Connecticut has chosen to follow the precedent set by President Donald Trump’s English-Only Executive Order, effectively disregarding the federal mandates of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Keep ReadingShow less
The DOGE and Executive Power

White House Senior Advisor, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk attends a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The DOGE and Executive Power

The DOGE is not the first effort to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in government. It is the first to receive such vociferous disdain along what appears to be purely political lines. Most presidents have made efforts in these areas, some more substantial than others, with limited success. Here are some modern examples.

In 1982, President Reagan used an executive order to establish a private sector task force to identify inefficiencies in government spending (commonly called the Grace Commission). The final report included 2,478 recommendations to reduce wasteful government practices, estimated savings of $429 billion over the first three years and $6.8 trillion between 1985 and 2000. Most of the savings required legislative changes, and Congress ignored most of those proposals.

Keep ReadingShow less