The Supreme Court has allowed New York to enforce a gun control law, for now, while legal challenges play out.
The measure was adopted in New York after the same top justices last year struck down the state’s limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home in a landmark ruling that expanded gun rights.
The justices rejected an emergency request by challengers who say it violates their right to keep me bear arms.
The court’s order marks the first Second Amendment case to reach the high court since a major Second Amendment decision last summer that expanded gun rights across the nation.
In the case ruled by the Supreme Court this week, six members of the firearms rights group Gun Owners of America wanted the Supreme Court to throw out a lower court’s decision allowing the law to be enforced. They asked the justices to lift a federal appeals court order that froze a district court decision that invalidated key provisions.
The justices declined to do so, saying they were simply declining to intervene in the dispute at this juncture.
U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby in October blocked the enforcement of much of the law. But the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December put that decision on hold while the state pursues an appeal.
The case is currently before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
It means the law could entirely be struck down. The supreme court justices were not considering the merits of the case, only whether to lift the appeal court order pending appeal. This means it is still playing out in court.
An official from Gun Owners of America, Erich Pratt, called the Supreme Court ruling statement “reassuring,” showing they still hope it will be appealed.
New York state Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, praised the court’s decision to keep the law in effect.
“Too many New Yorkers are plagued by gun violence, and we know that basic gun laws help save lives every day,” James said.
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