The U.S. Supreme Court will hear its first major gun rights case in nearly a decade on Monday in a challenge backed by the National Rifle Association over a now-amended New York City handgun regulation that had prevented licensed owners from taking their handguns outside the city.
The nine justices will hear arguments in an appeal by three handgun owners and the New York state affiliate of the NRA – the gun rights group closely aligned with President Donald Trump and other Republicans – who say the regulation violates the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Gun control advocates have said that if the justices choose to issue a broad ruling expanding gun rights, it could jeopardize a variety of firearms restrictions passed in recent years by state and local governments across the country, including expanded background checks and confiscations of weapons from individuals who a court has deemed dangerous.
Gun control is a contentious issue in the United States, which has experienced numerous mass shootings. Since 2013, 45 states and the District of Columbia have adopted more than 300 gun control laws, according to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Republican opposition in Congress has been instrumental in thwarting passage of new federal laws.
“The future of life-saving gun safety laws across our country is very directly on the line with this case,” the center’s litigation director Hannah Shearer said. – READ MORE