The Supreme Court could take up new gun rights cases.

Armed men in Michigan protesting the states Coronavirus shutdown. CNBC/Getty.

The Supreme Court may take up new gun rights cases after refusing to rule on the latest case that made it to the Court. CNBC. 10 cases are being considered and all of them have been considered in the past which signals that the court is interested in hearing them. The renewed interest comes after the Supreme Court ruled a New York City gun rights case moot after the city removed the law in question. Three justices disagreed with that ruling, Alito, Gorsuch and Thomas while a forth, Kavanaugh agreed with it but urged the court to take up more gun rights cases. Three cases could be significant as two of them deal with the "may issue" system for carry permits in Maryland and New Jersey. The third deals with a Massachusetts "assault weapons" ban and standard capacity magazine ban. With Alito, Gorsuch, Thomas and Kavanaugh being firmly in the pro-gun camp, any court cases will likely come down to Chief Justice Roberts, who ruled in favor of the gun rights camp in DC v Heller and McDonald v Chicago, but has also refused to hear any new cases until the New York law came up. 

A full list of the cases being considered can be found here. 

My Comment:

I'm on record on saying the Supreme Court made the wrong decision with the  NYSRPA v NYC case. It was clear that the city of New York was shooting for the case to be made moot so their bad behavior wouldn't be ruled on and the court played right into their hands. It's a strategy that we will likely see again and again, and not just in gun rights cases. All New York City has to do is wait until the Supreme Court is less favorable to gun rights to reimplement their law. 

But I am glad to see that the Court at least considering to take up new gun rights cases. Despite the victories in DC v Heller and McDonald v Chicago, it's clear that the lower courts didn't really get the fact that yes the 2nd Amendment is to be respected. It's been long overdue that we have had a case that instructs these judges that they really are supposed to acknowledge that the 2nd amendment exists. 

It seems likely that if a case is taken up it will be the cases dealing with carry permits. In Maryland and New Jersey, for example, though there is a system for concealed carry, they have a de facto ban on the practice as permits are rarely handed out. This leaves law abiding citizens no way to exercise their 2nd amendment right to bear arms. 

If one of those cases are taken up I think that it will be a 5-4 ruling in favor of gun rights. Roberts is a bit squishy on everything but even he will have to admit that if there is a de facto ban on carrying guns than people can't actually exercise the right to bear arms. The liberal justices are unlikely to ever vote against their party on the issue so I think there is just enough to pass.

I'm a lot less confident on the magazine bans and "assault weapons" bans. The court has ruled in the pass that there can be restrictions on weapons if they are not in common use. In US v Miller, the court upheld the National Firearms Act saying that fully automatic weapons and short barreled shotguns and rifles could be regulated. And the courts haven't been overturning assault weapons bans. 

This makes me think that a 5-4 decision is not inevitable on the "assault weapons" issue. Roberts isn't reliable enough and it's possible that he would rule in the other direction, which would be a huge defeat for gun rights. Of course if that is the case I doubt the case would even be heard, so I think if we do see it on the docket it means that the five conservative justices have likely came to an agreement.  

Still, I am happy if we get any kind of positive ruling at all. Gun rights has been a hot button issue but it should not be. The right to keep and bear arms isn't a right granted by the government, it's a natural right and it's fairly disgusting to me that there are people that seriously argue that everyone should be disarmed. 

I do think that the gun control movement has been dealt a savage blow by the Coronavirus pandemic. Millions of people bought guns for the first time, to the point where many of the stores are sold out of popular guns like AR-15's. Many of those people also found for the first time how awful the gun laws are in blue states and will be less likely to support new gun control laws now that they have skin in the game. It would be nice to have a good Supreme Court decision to help finish off the movement.