Supreme Court declines to hear gun control case
The US Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court will take on an affirmative action case in its docket, potentially reversing a 2003 decision.
The US Supreme Court is staying out of the gun control debate for now.
Justices declined today to hear a challenge to a strict New York law that makes it difficult for citizens to get concealed carry permits.
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The law requires New York residents to prove “proper cause” to carry a weapon for self-defense outside the home.
Five gun owners and the Second Amendment Foundation challenged the law, claiming it limits their constitutional right to bear arms by only allowing them to keep a gun at home, according to Reuters.
The lawsuit was supported by 20 states and the National Rifle Association, which called New York's law "a de facto ban on carrying a handgun outside the home."
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Justices did not give a reason for declining the case.
They could take up the same legal question at a later date.
The ruling comes amid intensifying debate over gun control in Congress following the massacre of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., last December.
Legal challenges to New York's other strict new gun measures passed in the wake of Newtown, such as bans on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, are still pending.