Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge To NYC Gun Rule

NEW YORK — The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to take up a case challenging New York City's limits on where some gun owners can travel with their weapons. The case involves a city rule that prohibits people with certain gun licenses from taking their firearms to shooting ranges outside city limits.

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, along with three gun owners, sued over the rule in 2013, arguing it violates the Constitution's First and Second Amendments, the commerce clause and the right to travel. But lower federal courts ruled in the city's favor, finding that the rule does not violate any of those protections.

Tom King, the Rifle and Pistol Association's president, said he looks forward to a good decision from the Supreme Court because the rule is "just wrong."

"This is more than a Second Amendment case," he said. "Nowhere else in the nation is a local individual prohibited from traveling anywhere with his personal property, and that’s what this amounts to."

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Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city will "fight vigorously" to maintain the gun laws it has on the books.

"The City’s rule keeps us all safer by limiting public transport of handguns through our crowded streets while also allowing license holders fair opportunity to maintain proficiency in the use of their weapons," the city Law Department said in a statement. "We look forward to defending the rule in the Supreme Court."

The rule at issue governs so-called premises licenses, which allow New Yorkers to have handguns in their homes or businesses but restrict where else they can take them. People with those licenses can only take their unloaded weapons in a locked container to shooting ranges within city limits or to a designated hunting area.

The gun owners who helped bring the suit wanted to take their weapons to gun ranges and competitions outside the city, court records show. They and the upstate-based gun-rights group contended the restrictions were unconstitutional and asked a federal court to block the enforcement of them.

But the city has argued that the rule serves a public safety interest and does not violate the Constitution.

"Ultimately, the challenged rule does not force petitioners to choose between two fundamental rights," city lawyers wrote in a November court filing. "It neither infringes upon their Second Amendment rights nor on their fundamental right to travel."

De Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, also a Democrat, have supported more aggressive gun control laws. Both participated in student demonstrations last March after 17 people were killed in school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

The Supreme Court will reportedly hear the case during its 2019-2020 term, which starts this fall, meaning arguments will likely begin in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. But King, a National Rifle Association board member, said politics have "nothing to do" with the matter.

"This has to do with the civil liberties of the people of New York State and New York City," he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated when the lawsuit was originally filed. It was in 2013, or about six years ago, not about four years ago.

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