Case Summary

New York City officials act as if the Second Amendment does not apply to them. They made it illegal to transport a licensed, locked, and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside of city limits. This regulation is inconsistent with the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment. New York City’s transportation ban is unconstitutional and it must be overturned.

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Case History

For years, New York City has required residents to apply for and receive a “premises license,” in order to possess a handgun in their homes for self-defense. The license is so-named because the license strictly limits licensees’ ability to possess and transport their handguns.

Under New York City’s licensing scheme, a premises licensee is only allowed to possess a handgun within their home or business, or en route to one of the seven shooting ranges located within city limits. When transporting the handgun, the firearm must be unloaded and locked in a container, separate from its ammunition. The licensee cannot transport the firearm to a residence outside of the city. The licensee cannot transport the handgun to a range or competition located outside the city. 

Essentially, New York City’s licensing scheme attempts to limit the right to keep and bear arms to the barest reading of the Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller (2008). There the Supreme Court specified that the Second Amendment protects the individual right to self-defense, but specifically held that “the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violated the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.”

Unfortunately, due to the narrowness of the Supreme Court’s specific holding, many jurisdictions have seen this as an opportunity to prohibit, restrict, and regulate the possession of firearms other than handguns and in areas other than the home. Many courts have upheld such regulations. New York City’s premises license law was an attempt to “comply” with Heller, but only in the strictest sense possible. 

New York City’s interpretation of Heller, however, is flawed. By adopting the narrowest possible interpretation, city officials fail to grasp the true test set forth by the Supreme Court, and do not honor the text of the Second Amendment, as well as the history and tradition of firearm regulations.

In reality, the Supreme Court specifically charged courts to assess Second Amendment challenges under the text, history, and tradition test, not an interest-balancing approach. By looking to the text of the Second Amendment, as well as analogous protections, and pre-founding and post-ratification historical and traditional regulation, courts can properly determine the constitutionality of the challenged law. 

This case gives the Supreme Court the opportunity to reinforce its previous holdings anThis case was an opportunity for the Supreme Court to reinforce its previous holdings and remind the lower courts that they must zealously protect our natural and fundamental right to keep and bear arms.

The case’s eventual resolution, however, was far from satisfactory. After six years of defending New York City’s prohibition on transporting certain registered firearms outside of city limits for any reason, city officials amended the regulation as soon as the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. The City’s attorneys contended that the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) had now received what they asked for, leaving nothing necessary for the Supreme Court to decide and making the case moot.

NYSRPA disagreed, arguing there were nuances to their injuries that were not resolved by the changed New York City regulation. They contended that they still feared prosecution under the old regulation, prejudicial decisions when undergoing new license applications for admittedly violating the old regulation, and, most importantly, the exceptions in the new regulation.

A majority of the Court ultimately held that NYSRPA’s claim for relief had likely become moot. The Supreme Court thus made no decision on the merits, but vacated the lower court’s judgment and remanded the case for any further appropriate proceedings.

Three justices dissented, stating that “the amended City ordinance and the new State law gave petitioners most of what they sought in their complaint, but the new laws did not give them complete relief. It is entirely possible for them to obtain more relief, and therefore this case is not moot … The City violated petitioners’ Second Amendment right, and we should so hold.”

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What Will SCOTUS do about New York Rifle?

A big question on the minds of many Second Amendment supporters right now is, will the Supreme Court moot the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association (NYSRPA) case? Cody Wisniewski offers his analysis of NYSRPA oral arguments.

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