'The View' flips out over SCOTUS ruling on gun rights: 'Tone deaf', 'ridiculous,' 'insanity'

The ladies of "The View" flipped out at the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday after the court struck down a New York gun control law and dramatically expanded gun rights nationwide.

"Right before we went on air, the Supreme Court handed down their decision that will allow New Yorkers to carry concealed firearms, striking down a centuries-old state law that made people have to prove that they had cause to conceal and carry," Whoopi Goldberg said to open the show.

"Given everything New York City is going through, it seems ... I don't even have the words, it seems," she continued, searching for words.

"Stupid," Ana Navarro suggested.

"No, it's worse than that," Goldberg said. "It's worse than that. It's not even stupid. It is such a middle finger to New York. It's a middle finger to New York because we have been trying to figure out how to get a handle on all that has been going on in this city in particular with gun laws."

In a 6-3 decision Thursday, the six Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices ruled that a 108-year-old New York law requiring gun owners to show they have "proper cause" before they can obtain a concealed carry license was unconstitutional on 14th Amendment grounds.

Justice Clarence Thomas, writing for the majority, said that because New York interpreted the law to require "a special need for self-defense," the state's licensing law violated the Constitution.

"We know of no other constitutional right that an individual may exercise only after demonstrating to government officers some special need," Thomas wrote. "That is not how the First Amendment works when it comes to unpopular speech or the free exercise of religion. It is not how the Sixth Amendment works when it comes to a defendant's right to confront the witnesses against him. And it is not how the Second Amendment works when t comes to public carry for self-defense."

Sarah Haines said that "giving people a pass" to carry guns in self-defense and perhaps try to be a "good guy with a gun" in a self-defense or active shooter situation is a "really scary prospect."

Reading from liberal Justice Stephen Breyer's dissent, Ana Navarro noted that in 2020 there were 45,222 Americans killed by firearms and said the court had failed to consider how Americans feel about gun violence before making its decision.

"So what to me this decision is, is tone deaf to the very American epidemic and reality we are living," Navarro said. "We are in a state where just a month ago there was a mass shooting at a supermarket, where people are not safe. We are at a time in American politics where the pressure and the outrage by Americans, the majority of Americans, is such that we're finally seeing bipartisan movement in the Senate on crafting a gun reform legislation."

She called the ruling a "victory" for the National Rifle Association.

Sunny Hostin, a lawyer, suggested that a bipartisan gun control bill being debated in the U.S. Senate was likely to be struck down by the court as well if it becomes law.

"Gun reform legislation is dead on arrival now, in my view, because of this," Hostin said. "Because any legislation that is passed, I don't think it's going to pass, is going to be challenged in court and the Supreme Court now has said you have the right to carry a gun if there's a self-defense reason any time, any place, anywhere."

But Goldberg held on to hope that somehow the court's decision could be challenged.

"I think people really will feel this is a misstep given everything that the country is going through in terms of guns. I think people are going to think it's a misstep and I think a lot of people are going to start gathering around to figure out how now to go back to court and bring this challenge again because it's ridiculous," she said. "If you believe in state's rights, then what are you doing?"

"This is pure insanity," Joy Behar added later.

"If I wanted to live in a gun culture state I would've moved to Texas. I live in New York, which is not a gun culture state," she complained.