Several pro-freedom organizations, including the National Rifle Association, have filed amicus briefs with the U.S. Supreme Court urging justices to take up the case of the hastily passed law lawmakers quickly passed to skirt provisions of the critical 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.
In response to the Bruen ruling, which confirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right to bear arms in public and set new standards for hearing Second Amendment cases, New York passed the so-called “Concealed Carry Improvement Act,” called by some the Bruen response bill, which further restricted the right to carry firearms throughout much of the state.
The case, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. James, has been a back-and-forth battle so far. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld many of the law’s restrictions in 2023. But the Supreme Court vacated that opinion and sent the case back to the Second Circuit for reconsideration in light of the Supreme Court’s U.S. v. Rahimi decision in 2024. Upon reconsidering the case, the Second Circuit again upheld the CCIA’s restrictions.
Now, gun rights supporters are urging the Supreme Court to again take up the case, prompting the recent amicus brief filings.
In its brief, the NRA argues that in the split among the federal circuit courts over whether the understanding of the right to keep and bear arms in 1791 (when the Second Amendment was ratified) or 1868 (when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified) controls, the Supreme Court’s precedents clearly demonstrate that the original 1791 understanding controls. Consequently, the Court should hear the case in order to quickly resolve the dispute.
“The Second Circuit held that ‘1868 and 1791 are both focal points’ of a Second Amendment analysis and that Reconstruction-Era evidence is ‘at least as relevant as evidence from the Founding Era regarding the Second Amendment itself,’” the brief states. “This decision adds to a growing circuit split over which time period controls—a split that results in disparate outcomes in otherwise similar cases. The Second Circuit’s holding—like similar holdings by other courts—is contrary to this Court’s precedents. This Court has strongly indicated that the original 1791 understanding of the Second Amendment controls and that the significance of historical evidence depends on its proximity to the Founding.”
Another organization recently asking the high court to take up the case is The Buckeye Institute, which filed a brief on behalf of Project 21, a national network of black political, civic and business leaders.
David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute and the counsel of record on the brief, said in a press release that the law particularly violates the rights of black New Yorkers.
“For decades, black Americans and other minorities were the targets of firearms regulations that prevented them from exercising their constitutional right to bear arms,” Tryon said. “New York’s Conceal Carry Improvement Act is little more than a continuation of these discriminatory 19th-century laws.”
In its brief, The Buckeye Institute argues that New York has simply substituted “special need” with “essential character” to deny members of disfavored groups their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
