US Supreme Court to hear first major gun rights case in nearly a decade

Lawsuit stems from NYC regulation restricting transport of handguns

Gun safety activists demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court in Washington DC ahead of oral arguments in the case NY State Rifle and Pistol vs the City of New York (Getty Images)

The US Supreme Court is poised to hear its first lawsuit concerning gun rights in nearly a decade, presenting a first opportunity for the newly solidified conservative majority on the bench to signal how it may rule on Second Amendment issues.

The law stems from a New York City gun regulation, and comes as the United States continues to reel from a succession of mass shootings that have pushed a major effort to implement gun control laws that might keep weapons out of the hands of would-be mass killers.

The New York City gun regulation imposes restrictions on where licensed handgun owners can take their locked and unloaded handguns. The regulation — which has been modified since the original lawsuit — initially restricted gun owners from moving the guns from the address listed on the gun licence, except for travel to authorised shooting clubs and small arms ranges.

A current version of the regulation allows the licensed owners of handguns to move them to other locations, including shooting ranges outside of city limits and second homes. New York State has also amended its handgun licensing statute, to require localities to let gun owners to engage in that same kind of transport.

It remains to be seen, though, whether the Supreme Court will actually issue a ruling on the case, even though it is the first time since 2010 that it has heard a major Second Amendment case.

That’s because of those changes, which were implemented after the initial lawsuit was brought forward.

The most recent major opinion on gun rights in the US came in 2010, when the court issued a follow up opinion on the 2008 ruling in DC v Heller, which was written by the late justice Antonin Scalia.

That ruling established for the first time that individuals in the United States have a right to keep a handgun at home for self-protection.

The court has since then largely avoided taking up further cases.