, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics at the Maxwell School, offers insight on gun laws following the shooting at a popular gay nightclub in Orlando, FL., resulting in 49 deaths making it the deadliest shooting in American history.
Thomas Keck
“As with previous mass shootings, the tragic events in Orlando will produce renewed attention to questions of gun control, at least for a time. The political obstacles to tighter regulation of firearms are enormous, but the Second Amendment need not stand as a barrier. The Supreme Court has made clear that while the Amendment protects an individual right to bear arms, it also allows a wide range of reasonable restrictions on that right. Proposed legislation banning military-style assault weapons or prohibiting firearms possession by persons on the terrorist watch list would be fully consistent with existing Second Amendment doctrine.”
Tom Keck is the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law and Politics and Professor of Political Science at ϲ’s Maxwell School. He is author of numerous books including “Judicial Politics in Polarized Times (University of Chicago Press, 2014). He can be reached at tmkeck@maxwell.syr.edu
