Supreme Court hears gun rights case

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is holding oral arguments in a challenge to a New York City law that affects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. The law prohibits people from taking their licensed, locked, and unloaded handguns from their homes to locations outside the city, except to certain authorized small arms ranges or shooting clubs.

What do the sides want? Gun rights groups, namely the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, hope the high court will reinforce the Second Amendment right to own and carry guns. Meanwhile, the city argues that the court should dismiss the case because New York no longer enforces the rule. In 2010, the court agreed with a 2008 landmark opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia that an individual has a right to keep a handgun at home for self-protection. But since then, the court has largely avoided taking up gun issues.

Dig deeper: Read my report in The Stew about how mass shootings this year caused division among the legislative and executive branches of government over how to handle gun issues.