On April 26, 2021 the Supreme Court agreed to decide how much protection the Second Amendment provides for carrying a gun outside the home.
20-843 NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSN., INC. V. BRUEN
DECISION BELOW: 818 Fed.Appx. 99
GRANTED LIMITED TO THE FOLLOWING QUESTION: WHETHER THE STATE’S
DENIAL OF PETITIONERS’ APPLICATIONS FOR CONCEALED-CARRY LICENSES
FOR SELF-DEFENSE VIOLATED THE SECOND AMENDMENT.
CERT. GRANTED 4/26/2021
QUESTION PRESENTED:
New York prohibits its ordinary law-abiding citizens from carrying a handgun outside the home without a license, and it denies licenses to every citizen who fails to convince the state that he or she has “proper cause” to carry a firearm. In District of Columbia v. Heller, this Court held that the Second Amendment protects “the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation,” 554 U.S. 570, 592 (2008), and in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the Court held that this right “is fully applicable to the States,” 561 U.S. 742, 750 (2010). For more than a decade since then, numerous courts of appeals have squarely divided on this critical question: whether the Second Amendment allows the government to deprive ordinary law-abiding citizens of the right to possess and carry a handgun outside the home. This circuit split is open and acknowledged, and it is squarely presented by this petition, in which the Second Circuit affirmed the constitutionality of a New York regime that prohibits law-abiding individuals from carrying a handgun unless they first demonstrate some form of “proper cause” that distinguishes them from the body of “the people” protected by the Second Amendment. The time has come for this Court to resolve this critical constitutional impasse and reaffirm the citizens’ fundamental right to carry a handgun for self-defense.
The question presented is:
Whether the Second Amendment allows the government to prohibit ordinary law abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside the home for self- defense.
ARGUMENT SET FOR Wednesday, November 3, 2021.
This will be the first major Second Amendment case SCOTUS will review since deciding Heller v. District of Columbia (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) over a decade ago. The United States remains the only democratic nation in the world with the right to bear arms in its constitution with no restrictions or regulations on gun ownership in that constitution. The Supreme Court will now determine the restrictions and regulations that can be placed on the Second Amendment.
This case can be followed here.
