I explain why the Bruen Case signals the end for most gun control.
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Transcript
The Bruen Case and the End of Gun Control
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Incorporated versus Bruen is a landmark Supreme Court case from 2022 that completely changed the legal landscape for gun control laws across America.
In this case, Robert Nash and Brandon Koch, along with the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, challenged New York’s Sullivan Act of 1911, an act that barred people from carrying a handgun without a permit. This “may-issue” permitting process meant that the government only allowed select people to get a permit if the government believed that the applicant had a non-speculative need for self-defense.
This application process was so strict that even the plaintiff Nash’s urgent request, made after a string of robberies in his own neighborhood, was not considered sufficient to grant him a carry permit despite his having a clean record otherwise.
The plaintiffs lost their case in New York district and appellate courts, but when their case reached the Supreme Court, a 6-to-3 majority ruled in favor of the plaintiffs with what is one of the most ground-breaking gun law cases in America.
Justice Thomas delivered the majority opinion of the court with Alito, Kavanaugh, and Barrett adding concurrences.
What was so ground-breaking about this case is that the court ruled that any firearms regulation by the government must be consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
To understand what this historical tradition means, we can look at what the justices referred to for the “history.”
The court referred to late colonial and early post-constitution era, specifically distinguishing that period from the late 19th century.
The court also said that unusual carry ban laws in Western Territories was not enough to undermine the evidence of an enduring tradition of American public carry.
Taken together, this means only those restrictions which applied widely in early American history could be a basis for regulation.
Why is that good news?
There was virtually no gun control in early America.
This limitation doesn’t end there. The court mentioned that even if handguns could be considered “dangerous and unusual” in the colonial period, they are indisputably in “common use” for self-defense today and are a “quintessential self-defense weapon.”
With these factors in mind, the Bruen decision is likely to overturn any gun control law that currently bans all forms of public carry, any permitting system that has a “may-issue” format, and any outright bans on handguns and popular rifle platforms like the AR-15.
The evidence of this ruling’s effect has already started to percolate.
Here are just a few examples:
In the 2022 case of Andrews versus McCraw, a federal judge struck down Texas’ unconstitutional ban on handgun carry for 18-to-20-year olds.
In MARYLAND SHALL ISSUE, INC. versus the Governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit struck down Maryland’s handgun purchase permit system.
The governor is currently appealing this case.
In United States versus Carbajal-Flores, a federal court dismissed a criminal charge against an illegal immigrant for having a gun, noting that the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation did not make it a crime for an illegal immigrant to own a gun.
And in Pennsylvania, the US District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania ordered an injunction against state police, stopping them from enforcing a ban on 18-to-20-year-olds wishing to keep and bear arms.
As you can see, Bruen is already influencing the gun control legal landscape, from stopping age-based restrictions to striking down permitting systems.
Because of this Bruen decision, there has never been a better time to sue the government over gun control laws.
If you want to be a plaintiff against gun control, check out Firearms Policy Coalition to see if you can take part in striking down remaining restrictions.
Visit www.firearmspolicy.org and navigate to their CASE SUPPORT REQUEST page to begin that process.
We can, and we will, succeed, against ALL gun control.
Sources
FPC CELEBRATES FIRST YEAR OF POST-BRUEN LEGAL WINS
https://firearmspolicy.org/fpc_celebrates_first_year_of_post_bruen_legal_wins