I've read the highlights but don't have the autism to slag through the slapfights so I hope this hasn't been covered but there is an update in the gun case:
As we know, SCOTUS invalidated NY's effective ban on carry licenses in which the city and counties could insist that people prove a specific, individual threat in order to carry a pistol (i.e. general self defense against crime was not enough). Now, states must provide a means for people to obtain such a license (although there is, as yet, no ruling on how tedious that process must be). This is relevant for only a few states which have no such process, like CA, NY, NJ, MD, HI.
NY and California- the two states which have had a pissing contest for years over which can institute the most mind-numbingly stupid and useless gun control- now have a plan, in two parts, to be created and passed ASAP, out of spite:
First, they will make carry licenses they are forced to issue completely useless by making everywhere a 'sensitive location' where they do not apply. This includes
every single business in the state which does not specifically exempt itself from the law (which will be 99.9% of them for liability purposes). That means that everyone who has already or goes through the long (and often expensive) process to obtain a pistol carry license in those states will find that they are now only able to bear arms from their house to the sidewalk...
unless they happen to be near a health care facility, government building, park, any sort of public transportation, "public gathering," school, daycare, municipal building, sports area, financial institution, or any of a dozen other "sensitive" places in which case you better just stay the fuck inside. Also note that carrying a gun and locking it in your car in a parking lots of any of the above, including private businesses, is also illegal. In short, this makes things
much worse for anyone who actually has a carry permit in those two states (and there are many, as long as it's not in the cities). This completely guts/flouts the Thomas decision and is basically putting gun owners in a worse place than they were beforehand (surely the point).
Second, they will make the process of obtaining such a permit even more
prohibitively expensive in time and money to stop anyone from actually doing it, while potentially invalidating all current licenses. "More extensive background checks" may sound fine until one learns that the current process of getting a license evidently takes 12-18 months and requires multiple references living in the county who have known the subject for years (so if you just moved... fuck you). 15-20 hours of training may sound fine until one learns that the process already costs hundreds of dollars and 20 hours of 'training' including live fire will cost hundreds more, all borne by the applicant. They will probably also remove the process from counties, some of which have been getting a little too 'friendly' to people who want to get a license to carry. This 'red tape' prohibition has not yet been addressed by SCOTUS which has, hitherto, left states alone to come up with the ways in which they want to bend people over the barrel.