SCOTUS AGREES TO LOOK AT SECOND AMENDMENT CASE

by Bob Walsh

On Monday SCOTUS agreed to look at a potentially wide-ranging Second Amendment case out of New York, the first such case they have considered since the 2008 Heller case.

The current case is out of New York State. Plaintiffs Robert Nash and Brandon Koch applied for permits to carry weapons outside the home.  Both were denied for failure to show "proper cause" for the permit.  The defendants if Keith Corlett, who was at the time the Superintendent of the New York State Police.

Both plaintiffs do have permits but they are highly restricted.  Such permits are issued for hunting, target shooting or for employment reasons but do not give the holder the general right to carry a weapon for self-defense.

Many large urban areas of the formerly great state of California routinely deny gun permits to everybody except the rich, powerful and politically connected.  San Francisco and the city of Los Angeles are two such.

The Heller case was decided by a 5-4 vote.  It is generally believed that the court has moved more to the right since Heller with the Trump appointments to the court.