Welcome to the Libertarian Podcast from the Hoover Institution.

I'm your host Tom Church, and I'm here with the Libertarian Professor Richard Epstein.

Richard is the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow here at the Hoover Institution.

He is the Lawrence A Tish Professor of Law at NYU and is a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.

And today we're discussing a few Supreme Court decisions covering issues from freedom of religion to the right to bear arms.

So the latter first, it's a big case. New York State Rifle and Pistol Association

versus Bruin. Now Richard, the issue at hand was whether the state of New York's requirement that in order for an individual to receive a permit to carry a firearm outside of their home

required a proper cause must exist. I mean the question is if that is too much to honor us of a burden.

I want to ask you this case you know decided 6.3 it seems pretty cut and dried but is it a great decision now considering the recent

spate of mass shootings as well as the bipartisan gun safety legislation currently making its way

through Congress?

Look, I think what happens is we currently making its way through Congress.

Look, I think what happens is we first have to take the constitutional issues and then what we have to do is to take the social issues and see the extent to which they interact.

I mean, the first thing of

course to remember is that there is a constitutional provision out there called the

Second Amendment and it's been interpreted by the Supreme Court in ways that I

actually disagree with on some key points.

The text basically talks about a row regulated militia being necessary for the security of

a free state.

That's the preamble.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Well, the first part of this clause essentially was understood originally I'm quite confident as a basic relationship that the militia clause had to federalist issues.

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