The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the first major Second Amendment case in more than a decade, deciding whether the U.S. Constitution protects the right of Americans to obtain a permit to carry a handgun in public.
It will be the first major gun rights case to come before the Court since District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and McDonald v. Chicago (2010) and a chance for former President Donald Trump's appointees and the supposed 6-3 "conservative majority" on the Court to strike down restrictions on the right of Americans to bear arms in public.
The case also comes at a time when President Joe Biden's administration is seeking to implement new gun control measures via executive order as he pressures Congress to address a "gun violence public health epidemic" in the wake of several mass shootings this year.
In the Heller decision, the Supreme Court majority said that Americans have a Second Amendment right to keep handguns and other operational firearms in their homes for protection. Two years later in McDonald, the Court held that the 14th Amendment makes the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense applicable to the states.
