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The Supreme Court has decided to take up a major, National Rifle Association (NRA)-backed lawsuit that challenges a New York law restricting individuals from carrying concealed handguns in public.
Itâs been more than 10 years since the Supreme Court weighed in on a significant case involving the Second Amendment, coming in the wake of President Joe Bidenâs and top Democratsâ recent push for more gun-control initiatives, including bans on so-called ghost guns, proposing models for âred flagâ laws, and expanding and lengthening background checks.
âThe petition for a writ of certiorari is granted limited to the following question: Whether the Stateâs denial of petitionersâ applications for concealed-carry licenses for self-defense violated the Second Amendment,â reads a brief order (pdf) from the high court on April 26.
Over the years, the NRA and other gun rights groups have criticized the Supreme Court for not taking up any major lawsuits relating to the Second Amendment. In 2008, the court stated for the first time that the Second Amendment protects Americansâ rights to keep and bear arms for self-defense at home.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, considered possibly the most conservative justice, wrote several years ago that courts have engaged in a âgeneral failure to afford the 2nd Amendment the respect due an enumerated constitutional right.â
âIf a lower court treated another right so cavalierly, I have little doubt that this court would intervene. ⊠The 2nd Amendment is a disfavored right in this court,â he wrote.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh, after the court dismissed a gun case last term, wrote in early 2020 he hopes the court will take up a Second Amendment-related challenge in the near future. âThe Court should address that issue soon, perhaps in one of the several Second Amendment cases with petitions for certiorari now pending before the Court.â
On April 26, the NRA praised the court for taking up the legal challenge, describing it as a case that challenges âNew Yorkâs restrictive concealed-carry-licensing regime,â noting that it sets up the stage âfor the Supreme Court to affirm what most states already hold as true, that there is an individual right to self-defense outside of the home.â
The case, according to the gun-rights group, challenges New York stateâs requirement that applicants for pistol permits show âproper causeâ to carry a gun, which they argue violates the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms.
âThe NRA believes that law-abiding citizens should not be required to prove they are in peril to receive the governmentâs permission to exercise this constitutionally protected right,â the group wrote, noting that if the Supreme Court rules favorably, it will âaffect the laws in many states that currently restrict carrying a firearm outside the home.â
Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, the two men who brought the lawsuit, both applied for licenses to carry handguns in New York state for self-defense but were denied. A district court later said that neither had proper cause to carry a handgun because they didnât face âany special or unique danger to [their] life.â
New York Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, wrote in a legal brief calling on the Supreme Court not to grant the case, saying the state law is consistent with prior rulings.
James said New Yorkâs law was âsupported by a centuries-old tradition of state and local measures regulating the carrying of firearms in publicâ and that it has existed in the same essential form since 1913. âNew Yorkâs law directly advances the Stateâs compelling interests in protecting the public from gun violence.â
The Epoch Times has contacted Jamesâs office for comment.
The court is expected to take up the case during the next term.
The case is New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Keith Corlett, No. 20-843.