Bloomberg’s latest column on the Hemani decision mirrors Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s now-familiar pattern of treating the Second Amendment as a constitutional afterthought rather than a fundamental right. Instead of grappling with the plain text, history, and tradition that Bruen demands, the piece leans on policy preferences and public-safety rhetoric, effectively asking courts to uphold restrictions first and justify them later—an approach the Supreme Court has already rejected. By framing the Hemani litigation as a threat to “reasonable” gun laws, the columnist recycles the same living-constitutionalist instincts that produced the “sensitive places” and “sensitive persons” carve-outs now being tested nationwide.
For the 2A community the stakes are straightforward: every time a major outlet endorses this Jackson-style end-run around Bruen, it signals to lower courts and state legislatures that they can keep pushing the envelope until the Supreme Court is forced to intervene again. That dynamic raises litigation costs, chills lawful carry and ownership, and keeps the right in a perpetual state of defense rather than allowing the text-and-history standard to settle into predictable doctrine. The Bloomberg column therefore isn’t merely commentary; it’s part of a coordinated messaging campaign designed to normalize judicial resistance to the Court’s clearest instructions on the right to keep and bear arms.
The practical takeaway is that pro-2A litigators and grassroots advocates must treat media narratives like this one as evidence of where the next wave of restrictions will be tested. When outlets openly celebrate a “Jackson approach,” they are telegraphing which jurisdictions will try to stretch sensitive-place doctrines, permitting regimes, or “straw purchase” expansions until the next cert petition lands. Staying ahead of that cycle—by documenting historical analogues, tracking sympathetic plaintiffs, and spotlighting the real-world consequences of delayed relief—remains the most effective counter to both judicial and journalistic efforts to dilute the Second Amendment.
