First major Second Amendment case before the Supreme Court in over a decade could topple gun restrictionsThe stakes in one of the most significant Second Amendment cases in U.S. history are high.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, expected by mid-2022, could declare a New York state restriction on carrying concealed handguns in public places unconstitutional.
Such a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, which include a National Rifle Association affiliate, could loosen gun regulations in many parts of the country.
In my view as a constitutional scholar, this case is also noteworthy in that how the court reaches its conclusion could affect the constitutional analysis of all weapons laws in the future.
The court is set to hear oral arguments on Nov. 3..........
................In considering Bruen, the Supreme Court will focus on the meaning of an important precedent: District of Columbia v. Heller.
When the Supreme Court issued its Heller ruling in 2008, a 5-4 majority struck down Washington, D.C.‘s ban on the possession of handguns in the home. The court held for the first time that the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.
Writing for the majority, the late Justice Antonin Scalia declared that the “central component” of the Second Amendment was not a “well regulated Militia,” but rather “the inherent right of self-defense.”
But the majority’s decision included cautionary language that lower-court judges have since relied on to uphold gun laws.
“The right secured by the Second Amendment is not unlimited” and is “not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose,” Scalia wrote. His opinion even contained a list of “presumptively lawful regulatory measures,” such as restrictions on the possession of firearms by felons or bans on carrying them in sensitive places like schools and government buildings.....................
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