The US Supreme Court refused to hear a series of new cases that saught the expansion of gun rights, on Monday. In total, 10 cases were rejected by the court, which had accumulated at the highest judicial body over the past few months.
Two conservative justices, Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, said that they would have accommodated one of the cases. The case was a dispute from New Jersey which dealt with the permits of carrying concealed guns.
Reason Should Stated For Acquiring A Permit
In the New Jersey case, the justices left in place a lower court ruling that threw out a lawsuit challenging the state's law mandating that people who want to carry handguns in public must show they have a special reason before they can get a permit.
Other cases the court declined to take up included challenges to assault weapon bans in Massachusetts and Cook County, Illinois, a jurisdiction that includes Chicago. The court also turned down cases similar to the New Jersey dispute from Massachusetts and Maryland.
Sidestepping A Major Ruling On Right To Bear Arms
The high court's action comes on the heels of its April 27 decision to dismiss a National Rifle Association-backed challenge to now-repealed New York City restrictions on handgun owners transporting their firearms outside the home. The move sidestepped a major ruling over the scope of the right to bear arms under the US Constitution's Second Amendment.
The New York case was the first gun rights dispute the court had heard in almost a decade, with gun control activists fearful the court will further expand the right to bear arms. The decision by the justices not to take up any of the 10 other cases shows that the court, which has a 5-4 conservative majority, remains hesitant about wading into gun rights issues.
(With inputs from agencies)
