Washington, United States. The U.S. Supreme Court issued two recent rulings that further expanded protections under the Constitution’s Second Amendment as the justices consider whether to take up additional gun rights cases for their next term. The decisions highlighted the court’s generally sympathetic approach toward gun rights in a country divided over how to address persistent firearms violence, including frequent mass shootings.
Recent rulings on gun rights
In a 6-3 ruling on Thursday, the court’s conservative majority struck down a Hawaii law that required gun owners to obtain an owner’s permission before bringing a handgun onto private property open to the public, such as most businesses.
Last week, the justices unanimously decided to limit the application of a decades-old federal law barring firearms possession by certain drug users. The ruling narrowed a measure that had threatened the gun rights of millions of Americans who use marijuana and own firearms.
Impact on legal standards
The rulings further strengthened a legal test that gun control measures must satisfy in order to withstand scrutiny under the Second Amendment, which was ratified in 1791 and states: “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law professor Jacob Charles said, “The two cases confirm the court’s extreme skepticism about all manner of gun regulations, especially new ones.”
“It has created and elaborated a test that makes it exceedingly difficult for legislatures to create gun laws to protect their citizens,” Charles said of the court.
Possible cases in the next term
The rulings were issued as the justices neared the end of their current term, which began last October.
Gun rights advocates, encouraged by the recent legal victories, said they hoped the court would take up additional Second Amendment cases for its next term, which begins in October.
The justices met on Thursday for their weekly private conference. Appeals challenging the legality of state restrictions on assault-style rifles, including AR-15s, and large-capacity ammunition magazines were among the cases under consideration for review. Those cases could be accepted as soon as Monday for argument in the coming term.