On Monday, the Supreme Court chose to take on a lawsuit seeking to challenge a New York law that restricts the state’s citizens from carrying a concealed handgun in public.
“The petition for a writ of certiorari is 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,” a brief order released by the Supreme Court on Monday read.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) backed lawsuit will be one of the first significant Second Amendment-related cases that the high court has weighed in on in over a decade.
The move comes just over a week after President Joe Biden began pushing for ‘red flag’ laws, bans on ‘ghost guns’, and background check reforms.
Several years ago, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, a Republican, wrote that lower courts have failed “to afford the 2nd Amendment the respect due [to] an enumerated constitutional right.”
“If 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,” Justice Thomas added.
The NRA praised the Supreme Court for taking on the case, after several years of criticizing the court for refusing to weigh in on any major Second Amendment lawsuits.
“The NRA believes that law-abiding citizens should not be required to prove they are in peril to receive the government’s permission to exercise this constitutionally protected right,” the firearm rights group released in a statement.
The NRA added that if the Supreme Court decides New York’s restrictive concealed carry laws are unlawful, the ruling will “affect the laws in many states that currently restrict carrying a firearm outside the home.”
The Supreme Court is expected to take up the case during the next term in October.
