The Supreme Court declined 10 cases related to gun rights for the term that begins in October.
Five of the 10 cases the court rejected on Monday questioned whether the Second Amendment allows the government to restrict the ability of citizens to carry a firearm outside the home for those with “good cause” or “justifiable need” to do so. Two of the petitions for appeals declined by the high court included challenges to assault weapon bans in Illinois and Massachusetts. The other three cases had a narrower scope.
The conservative wing of the court has expressed interest in recent years about taking up a Second Amendment case. Vocal dissent increased following the decision to sidestep issuing a major ruling on a National Rifle Association-backed challenge to now-repealed New York City restrictions on handgun owners transporting guns outside the home.
The case, which marked the first major gun rights case heard by President Trump’s Supreme Court nominees Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, was sent back to the lower court because New York City changed its laws regarding the issue taken up in the case after the court had agreed to hear it. The court directed a lower court to consider remaining claims from the challengers of the law.
Kavanaugh had expressed concern about lower courts growing frustrated about the Supreme Court precedent on the Second Amendment, saying the court should “address that issue soon” following the decision, which was viewed as a major blow to the Trump administration and gun rights advocates. He and Justice Clarence Thomas said they would have been willing to hear one of the newly rejected cases, which involves a dispute in New Jersey over concealed carry gun permits.
It’s been over a decade since 2008’s landmark 5-4 District of Columbia v. Heller ruling that upheld that the Second Amendment protects a person’s right to keep and bear arms at home for self-defense. The court weighed in on Second Amendment rights again in a 2010 follow-up decision.
