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Supreme Court agrees to hear first gun rights case in a decade

By Clyde Hughes
The Supreme Court won't start hearing arguments in the case until October, and its decision may affect the 2020 presidential campaigning season. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI
The Supreme Court won't start hearing arguments in the case until October, and its decision may affect the 2020 presidential campaigning season. File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear its first gun rights case in a decade -- a challenge from Second Amendment groups over strict firearms regulations in New York City.

The New York State Rifle and Pistol Association and others have opposed the city's gun restrictions, which are among the toughest in the nation. They prohibit the majority of licensed handgun owners from taking their guns outside their homes, except to gun ranges and other firearm-specific places.

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An appeals court ruled last year to uphold the regulations, saying they don't affect the core of the Second Amendment. The ruling also said New York had demonstrated the rule's overriding purpose is public safety.

Tom King, president of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, argues the rules are excessive.

"This is to stop a municipality from banning travel with a lawful object," he told Spectrum News NY1. "Gun owners in New York City were getting arrested when they tried to fly outside of New York City.

"They were getting arrested and having their pistol licenses taken away from them for something that was totally legal anywhere in the United States."

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It's the first gun case accepted by the Supreme Court in 10 years, and experts say it should demonstrate how the high court will lean on the issue. Since hearing its last Second Amendment case, the court has let many state and city gun measures stand by staying out of the cases.

The New York case could become a hot button issue in the 2020 elections, since it won't be argued until October and a decision won't arrive until the heat of the presidential campaign season.

The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday it would not hear cases on President Donald Trump's restrictions for transgender troops and the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

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