SCOTUS Vacates Ruling That Supported Massachusetts’ Handgun Restrictions

On Monday the Supreme Court of the United State (SCOTUS) vacated a lower court ruling that upheld Massachusetts’ handgun restrictions and licensing requirements.

SCOTUS asked the lower court to reconsider the case in light of NYSRPA v. Bruen (2022), which held that the Second Amendment right to bear arms extends outside the home.

Breitbart News reported that SCOTUS’s Bruen ruling struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance. Within two weeks of the ruling, California, Maryland, and New Jersey all changed their concealed carry permit issuing requirements as well.

California ceased to enforce “good cause,” New Jersey dropped “justifiable need,” and on July 5, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) tweeted, “In light of a recent Supreme Court ruling and to ensure compliance with the Constitution, I am directing the Maryland State Police to suspend utilization of the ‘good and substantial reason’ standard when reviewing applications for Wear and Carry Permits.”

Breitbart News observed that Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the Majority Opinion for Bruen, in which he stated, “Although we remarked in Heller that the need for armed self-defense is perhaps ‘most acute’ in the home, id., at 628, we did not suggest that the need was insignificant elsewhere. Many Americans hazard greater danger outside the home than in it … [and] the text of the Second Amendment reflects that reality.”

He added, “The Second Amendment’s plain text thus presumptively guarantees [the NYSPRA] petitioners … a right to ‘bear’ arms in public for self-defense.”

The rules in Massachusetts center on state-level requirements law-abiding citizens must meet in order to be allowed to purchase or possess the handguns they would use for self-defense.

The case is Morin v. Lyver, No. 20-128, in the Supreme Court of the United States.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins holds a PhD in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.