Get ready for the 2nd Amendment debate to heat up later this year.
The U.S. Supreme Court has granted cert to a New York case over the state’s restrictive concealed-carry rights.
New York has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, and an NRA affiliate and two residents are pushing back for the right to carry a handgun outside of the home for self-defense.
In New York, concealed-carry is illegal unless you prove you have a special need for protection.
If the NY law is deemed unconstitutional, that will override many state and local restrictions on concealed-carry in public.
Without a doubt, this will be the most important 2nd Amendment case reviewed by the Supreme Court in over a decade.
BREAKING: The Supreme Court agrees to take up a major gun rights case. In NY State Rifle & Pistol Assoc. v. Corlett, the justices will consider the extent to which the Second Amendment protects the right to carry guns outside the home for self-defense. pic.twitter.com/0uGurWn46r
— SCOTUSblog (@SCOTUSblog) April 26, 2021
This case is likely to pave the way to the Supreme Court declaring a constitutional right to concealed public carry, overriding many state and local restrictions on the ability to bear concealed arms in public. https://t.co/SDD4adTFhx
— Mark Joseph Stern is on parental leave! (@mjs_DC) April 26, 2021
BREAKING: Supreme Court will take up major new gun case and decide whether Second Amendment applies outside the home. Court will review New York law that requires people to show a special need for protection to get a license to carry a handgun.
— Greg Stohr (@GregStohr) April 26, 2021
“We’re confident that SCOTUS will tell New York and the other states that our Second Amendment right to defend ourselves is fundamental, and doesn’t vanish when we leave our homes.” —@NRAILA’s Jason Ouimet https://t.co/3GLoPs0Qr1
— NRA (@NRA) April 26, 2021
From Zero Hedge:
The US Supreme Court, which hasn’t issued a major gun-rights decision in over a decade, has agreed to review a New York case to decide whether the government must allow most residents to carry a handgun in public.
The appeal is from a New York gun-rights group and two individuals who say the state is violating their 2nd Amendment rights by only issuing concealed-carry licenses to those who can show a special need for protection, according to Bloomberg. The state has restricted carry rights since the 19th century.
The case, which the court will consider during the nine-month term beginning in October, will put the Justices in the middle of a heated debate between gun control advocates and gun rights groups who are hoping that the three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump (who have consistently ruled against conservative interests) will stand behind the Second Amendment.
Concealed carry advocates believe that public gun possession is an issue of self-defense against criminals, as well as an issue of individual freedom. Opponents say that more guns equal more crime.
New York is one of eight states — along with California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware and Hawaii — that the National Rifle Association says prevent most people from getting a carry license. Illinois and the District of Columbia also had sharp restrictions before their laws were invalidated in court.
The restrictions have created a split among federal appeals courts, a dynamic that often prompts the Supreme Court to intervene. The high court has never said whether the Second Amendment applies outside the home. -Bloomberg
In its appeal, the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association along with residents Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, have asked the high court to settle the matter.
“There is no Second Amendment issue more pressing than whether the fundamental, individual right to self-defense is confined to the home,” the group argued in its filing. “A minority of jurisdictions seem determined to control the very people and rights that the Second Amendment promises ‘shall not be infringed.”
And Bloomberg:
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a major new Second Amendment dispute, agreeing to use a New York case to consider whether the government must let most people carry a handgun in public for self-defense.
With the nation reeling from series of mass shootings, the justices said they will take up an appeal by a National Rifle Association affiliate and two people who say the state is violating their constitutional rights by issuing concealed-carry licenses only to those who can show a special need for protection.
The high court hasn’t issued a major gun-rights decision in more than a decade. Gun-rights advocates have been looking to the three justices appointed by former President Donald Trump to show a more assertive stance toward the Second Amendment.
The case, which the court will consider in the nine-month term that starts in October, will put the justices in the middle of one of the country’s most fractious debates. It will pit people who see public gun possession as a matter of self-defense and individual freedom against others who say the result will be more crime and reduced public safety.
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