By: Teresa Mull

The U.S. Supreme Court is set today to hear oral arguments on the first major Second Amendment case in more than a decade.

New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen challenges New York State’s law that requires people seeking a permit to carry a firearm outside his or her home to show “proper cause” for doing so.

The court’s 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller ruled the Second Amendment protects “the individual right to possess and carry weapons in case of confrontation.”

In NYSRPA v Bruen, the petitioners are aiming to obtain a ruling on “whether the Second Amendment allows the government to prohibit ordinary law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside the home for self-defense.”

SCOTUSBlog.com reports, The case involves a 108-year-old handgun-licensing law in New York – but if the justices side with the challengers, their decision could jeopardize gun-control laws in other states and cities across the country. The court’s decision is likely to be a major ruling on gun rights…”

Both sides of the case have had dozens of friends file amicus briefs. Notably, 26 attorneys generals joined the pro-Second Amendment side of things to declare the New York law unconstitutional.

On New York State’s side is a host of anti-gun groups, including the Biden administration.

The court isn’t expected to issue a decision until mid-2022, but the civilian disarmament proponents seem nervous. The LA Times is hopeful, writing that a petition for a writ of certiorari gives “gun safety proponents reason for cautious optimism.”

Other media outlets, however, are not reporting such a rosy picture: The New York Times writes, “The gun safety movement finds itself on the precipice of disaster.”

The AP reports: “Eric Tirschwell, the legal director at Everytown for Gun Safety, said there’s ‘reason to be concerned’ for groups like his that ‘a type of law that the court was not interested in or willing to review in the past, they now are.’”

And over at Vox, they’re reporting, “More than a century of gun laws are potentially on the chopping block.”

Let’s hope so!

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.