The ruling follows the mass shootings last month in Buffalo and Uvalde, Texas, and was handed down on a day when the Senate neared approval of a set of modest gun control measures, a major step toward ending a yearslong stalemate in Congress.

The 6-to-3 decision again illustrated the power of the six conservative justices, all of whom voted to strike down the New York law, in setting the national agenda on social issues. The court’s three liberal members dissented.

The Second Amendment, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the majority, protects “an individual’s right to carry a handgun for self-defense outside the home.” States can continue to prohibit guns in some locations like schools and government buildings, Justice Thomas wrote, but the ruling left open where exactly such bans might be allowed.

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