Denver, CO – July 16, 2021 – As the Supreme Court moves toward its first major firearms decision in over a decade, Mountain States Legal Foundation’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms (CKBA) is arguing that the Court must strike down a New York law that unconstitutionally restricts gun rights to the home.
On Friday, July 16, CKBA submitted its amicus brief in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen —which is expected to produce the Supreme Court’s most important Second Amendment decision since D.C. v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010).
Those decisions upheld individual gun rights, and the application of those rights on both the federal and state level. Since then, however, some jurisdictions have twisted the Court’s language—inventing an arbitrary distinction between gun rights in the home, and those outside.
Under current New York state law and court precedents, ordinary people have no real right to bear arms outside their home. Instead, they must show “proper cause” to receive a permit, based on a “special need.” But New York officials interpret this standard to exclude almost everyone, including those concerned for their personal safety.
Members of the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association (NYSRPA) are excluded—despite their personal safety concerns, firearm expertise, and constitutionally protected natural rights. NYSRPA’s lawsuit against state officials, which began in 2018, will be heard by the Supreme Court during the 2021-2022 term.
New York is not alone in this infringement of gun rights. Several states and federal circuit courts apply the same distinction—effectively denying the right to bear arms outside the home, by making it a special privilege for the few.
CKBA’s brief argues for a consistent application of the Heller and McDonald decisions, to vindicate the authentic protections of the Second Amendment and stop the public disarmament of the American People.
“This is a must-win case,” says Cody J. Wisniewski, Director of MSLF’s Center to Keep and Bear Arms. “There are no ‘unimportant’ gun rights decisions, but NYSRPA v. Bruen is likely to be a milestone.”
“Since 2008, when the Supreme Court began to vindicate the real nature of the rights protected by the Second Amendment, lower courts have tried to confine gun rights to the home—and they’ve largely gotten away with it. The ‘right to bear’ is not acknowledged in New York and many other states across the union.”
“Other basic rights, like free speech, clearly can’t be confined to the four walls of your house,” Wisniewski explains. “The same is true of the right to bear arms—a natural self-defense right that precedes the Constitution.”
“It would be absurd for states to claim that they respected freedom of speech, and then allow it in public only to those who could show a ‘special need.’ But that’s essentially what has happened to the right to bear arms, in New York and much of America.”
“We’re stressing the need for the Supreme Court to permanently end this abuse.”
Follow this link to read CKBA’s amicus brief in support of NYSRPA.
Follow this link to read case page
Follow this link to read the filing