Justice Department Calls on Supreme Court to Overturn New York Gun Control Law

On Wednesday, the Justice Department called on the Supreme Court to overturn a New York City law that regulates where licensed gun owners can take their handguns.

The highest court in the land is expected to hear the Second Amendment case the next term, and it will be the first major gun control case the Supreme Court has heard since DC v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010).

However, gun rights supporters have been left hanging over the past 9 years due to the Supreme Court not taking on Second Amendment cases.

Thanks to the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the current Supreme Court has a conservative majority that will likely rule in favor of gun rights.

Solicitor General Noel Francisco argued in a friend of the court brief that “New York City’s transport ban infringes the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed by the 2nd and 14th Amendments.”

Francisco also asked the court to “confirm” that the Second Amendment protects the right of a “law-abiding, responsible citizen to take his firearms outside his home, and to transport it to other places — such as a second home or a firing range — where he may lawfully possess that firearm.”

The New York law in question keeps licensed individuals from removing a handgun from the address that is documented on the license, with the exception of cases of where they travel to authorized small arms range and shooting clubs that are close to their place of residence.

This court challenge originated from the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. The group’s lawyers argued in court documents that New York gun owners cannot transport their handguns to their “second home for the core constitutional purpose of self-defense or to an upstate county to participate in a shooting competition, or even across the bridge to a neighboring city for target practice.”