The Supreme Court has ruled twice that the 2nd Amendment protects the right to own guns for self-protection. However, both of their rulings were confined to ownership in the home. Several states have interpreted that to mean that carry outside the home may be curtailed or even prohibited.
We’d hoped for resolution in the lower courts, but they’ve left us with a confusing patchwork of conflicting opinions. We lost when the 2nd Circuit upheld New York’s unworkable permitting scheme in Kachalsky. Although we won on the district court level, we lost in the 4th Circuit in the Woollard case.
Late last year, we scored a win in the 7th Circuit, in which Illinois’ ban on carry was thrown out. Rather than appeal, the state agreed to implement a workable permit system. That leaves us with a split between Circuit courts, which puts pressure on the Supreme Court to take up the issue. Continued...