Commentary: When Lawmakers Fail, The Supreme Court Has an Obligation to Uphold Safety in America

It is the Supreme Court's duty to correct bureaucratic, identity-driven, unconstitutional policies—especially when they clearly put Americans in danger. Few issues illustrate this failure more than transit-system gun bans.

Second Amendment advocates are currently urging the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of transit-system firearm bans. They must course-correct before more Americans fall victim to senseless violence. If the Charlotte light rail murder didn't show us the danger of being isolated and defenseless, the raging subway crime in cities like Chicago and New York City should be more than adequate.

“The problem lies not with the law-abiding gun owner who wants to carry a firearm for self-defense. Rather, the problem is leaving people with no means of protecting themselves against those who prey on people in a target-rich environment," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.

(READ MORE: Gavin Newsom’s Latest Gun Grab: Banning Glocks for Everyone (Except Criminals))

I spent years in Washington, D.C. at the beginning of my career, often traveling home on the Metro after a late night at the office. I can assure you few things will frighten you more than being trapped in a train car with an overdosing addict or deranged man yelling at his own reflection.

These unpredictable individuals present a clear and obvious danger to the public. My own sister refused to use the Metro because she was afraid she would be alone in a car with a dangerous individual. 

At its core, a fundamental flaw exists in the entire premise of transit gun bans. Violent actors do not pause at the sight of a gun-free-zone sign. They do not reconsider their intent because a regulation tells them to. These rules restrain only the people who already follow them—leaving Americans exposed, defenseless, and living in fear.

Let the Facts Speak for Themselves

To assume banning firearms in public transit will curtail crime is a utopian fantasy that blames firearms—and not criminals—for the issues in society.

This is a painfully old truth and a slimy cop-out used by the Democrats who rely on virtue signaling politics. It inevitably results in "progressive" politicians utilizing false statistics to "prove" gun control decreases crime—leaving Americans as the butt of the joke.

Take New York City, for example. From 2019 to 2025, felony assaults on subways increased by 65 percent—but if you look at New York's data, they will tell you subway crime went down. It all hinges on a recently adopted method of crime reporting that uses a decrease in petty crimes to falsely deflate true violent crime statistics.

Restoration News debunked this form of "reporting" in 2024, finding massive increases in crime in California, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and numerous other states. But the FBI, under former President Joe Biden, continued to assure Americans crime was at record lows.

The same holds true for subways in Chicago and other christ-bitten shitholes other dystopian urban battlefronts across America—but Democrat lawmakers hang on to false statistics to back their policies. They see an increase in gun control and a decrease in subway crime, but they never truly look at the real numbers. 

The sad reality is that "progressive" lawmakers are utilizing false statistics to create a defensive disparity— all while touting their false criminal-reform achievements. They laugh in the faces of every individual harmed on a subway while waving the flag of "justice."

Even Without Crime Data They Lose

In a parallel reality where all crime is truly down, and "progressive" lawmakers can tout great victories—they can't escape the undeniable truth that gun control does not work.

Even the FBI, with all its flaws, agrees with this obvious truth. A 2019 study by the Bureau showed that only 7 percent of all crimes committed with a firearm were committed with a legally purchased firearm.

Half of offenders had stolen the weapon, and 43 percent acquired it from black-market or underground sources. So why would anyone create policy that only affects 7 percent of crime?

The remaining 93 percent—real criminals—feel no effects from "gun control," while 100 percent of law-abiding Americans get left out to dry. The data is so obvious, it truly feels like the explanation is geared toward a child who still struggles to understand logic. And yet this remains a controversial topic.

Never mind the clear language of the Second Amendment that recognizes the inherent natural right of every human to arm themselves however they see fit.

Additionally, new data proves that armed citizens provide an excellent deterrent to active shooters and violent criminals. The FBI's original data, which claimed that only 14 of 374 active shooters were stopped by armed citizens between 2014 and 2024, undercounted shootings by a staggering 561 incidents.

When those excluded cases are applied to the dataset, it reveals more than 202 instances where law-abiding gun owners stopped an active shooter. This updated dataset takes the FBI's original statistic—which claims only 3.7 percent of active shooters were stopped by armed citizens—and raises the real number to 36 percent. 

If shootings in "gun-free zones" are excluded from the data, over 52 percent of active shooters are stopped by law-abiding gun owners. The sheer lunacy of gun control in the face of all the available data exposes the true goal of "progressive" politicians—disarming the American people.

The Supreme Court Must Act

Throughout our history, Americans have sought laws grounded in sanity and virtue—but the responsibility for upholding those ideals ultimately falls on our elected representatives.

Our republic is designed to shield us from the passions of the moment, yet it also gives those in office the power to betray the very people they are meant to serve. When those failures begin to endanger the public, it becomes the Supreme Court's duty to restore balance through faithful constitutional interpretation.

For decades, Americans have lived under the weight of misguided gun-control policies that punish the responsible while empowering the lawless. The Court cannot correct every injustice with a single ruling, but it can take meaningful steps.

Today, one of the most urgent steps is reaffirming the fundamental right of self-defense—especially for law-abiding citizens who want nothing more than to travel to work without fear.

(RELATED: When the Guns Go, So Does Gotham: Mamdani’s Dangerous Dream)