Opinion

The Supreme Court’s gun ruling was a victory over racist policing

Aimee Carlisle, Christopher Smith and Michael Alexander Thomas are attorneys at the nonprofit the Bronx Defenders, which represents low-income individuals in New York.

When the Supreme Court last week struck down a long-standing New York law placing strict limits on carrying guns in public, the response from many was centered on the false dichotomy of gun rights vs. public safety and barely acknowledged the effect the decision could have on mass incarceration. We share the collective concern about gun violence. But feeding the prison pipeline with a steady stream of Black and Brown people, as New York’s law did, is not the answer.