U.S. Court Upholds "Good Moral Character" Rule for Handgun Permits with Some Conditions

[Nomad]

In New York, if you want to apply for handgun permits you need to show "good moral character." Interestingly, this requirement has also been supported by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit. The court believes having "good moral character" is also in line with the Second Amendment, which gives the right to bear arms. Since the provision of "the right to bear arms" could be misused, the Court believes there should be some restrictions.

New York's request for applicants to share details about their social media accounts has been rejected by the court. The court found this demand went against both the First and Second Amendments, especially impacting the right to speak anonymously online.

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[Jake]

Who's to say every person who wants a gun permit will have "good moral character"? How do you even know someone has good moral character? What if they act nice on the outside, but are awful people in secret? I mean, as long as everyone who wants a handgun permit goes through the usual background checks, and the usual waiting period to own a gun, than I don't see it being a problem.

As for requiring access to ones social media, I find that weird. But I get why they are doing it. A lot of businesses will look at your social media accounts. I always private my accounts as I'm a private person in general and only want close friends and family adding me there.

 

[Winny]

Who's to say every person who wants a gun permit will have "good moral character"? How do you even know someone has good moral character? What if they act nice on the outside, but are awful people in secret? I mean, as long as everyone who wants a handgun permit goes through the usual background checks, and the usual waiting period to own a gun, than I don't see it being a problem.

As for requiring access to ones social media, I find that weird. But I get why they are doing it. A lot of businesses will look at your social media accounts. I always private my accounts as I'm a private person in general and only want close friends and family adding me there.

I agree, as long as they are passing their background checks, aren't a known criminal, etc, it should be fine. I don't even know how they would test for having good moral character. I assume it's if you're an upstanding citizen, pay your bills, don't commit crimes etc. But then wouldn't passing a background check be sufficient enough?