NYC case has implications for everyone

It may be an issue out of New York involving a shooting club, but a center-right think tank thinks everyone should pay attention to a case at the Supreme Court.

The issue in the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v City of New York, New York is whether New York City's ban on transporting a licensed, locked, and unloaded handgun to a home or shooting range outside city limits is consistent with the Second Amendment, the commerce clause, and the constitutional right to travel.

"This has implications for citizens across the country," says Elizabeth Slattery, legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation. "The Supreme Court has not heard a Second Amendment case in almost ten years, and the justices have not ruled on whether the right to keep and bear arms is a right that is restricted to your home or whether it's a right that extends beyond the home."

Slattery adds that lower court rulings have been all over the place in this area, "so they really need some guidance so that citizens in California and New York and Kentucky all receive the same sort of treatment when they go into court."

The case out of New York may be considered moot, as New York City claims its regulation has been revised to the point where the shooting club members challenging the law got what they wanted while their lawsuit was in the court system.

"A number of the justices asked about this," says Slattery. "Justices Thomas and Kavanaugh did not ask any questions, and Chief Justice Roberts only asked the lawyer for the City of New York a few questions. But Justices Gorsuch and Alito were eager to get to the merits of the case, [and] Gorsuch actually referred to the city's effort to moot the case, calling it a herculean late-breaking effort basically to take the case away from the Supreme Court."

A decision from the Supreme Court is expected by the end of June 2020.