The Supreme Court has already granted cert to two separate cases dealing with Second Amendment issues, and I think there’s a strong possibility the justices will agree to hear at least one more 2A-related challenge this term.
So far the Court has decided to address the constitutionality of Hawaii’s “vampire rule” prohibiting concealed carry on private property unless expressly allowed by the property owner and the federal law barring unlawful users of drugs from possessing firearms, but next week the justices will also consider four cases in conference that all have to do with the Second Amendment rights of 18-to-20-year-olds. The lawsuits involve challenges to the federal prohibition on handgun sales to adults under 21, Florida’s law banning all gun sales to under-21s, and Pennsylvania’s ban on concealed carry for under-21s (which turns into a total prohibition on carry for young adults when the state’s open carry law is suspended during a state of emergency).
Given the circuit court splits on the issue, I believe there’s a real possibility the Court will hear one or more of these cases. But there are other live issues pending before Court, and the November 21 conference will feature almost a half-dozen of them.
Four of the cases slated for the November 21 conference are prohibited persons cases; not challenges to Section 922(g)(3) and its ban on unlawful drug users owning guns, but taking on 922(g)(1)’s prohibition on gun ownership for anyone who has been convicted in any court of a crime punishable by more than one year’s imprisonment; and 922(g)(5)(A), which bars unlawful aliens from possessing firearms.
In addition, the Court has scheduled Duncan v. Bonta for its November 21 conference. That’s the challenge to California’s ban on so-called “large capacity” magazines. The Ninth Circuit has upheld the law, including the provision requiring existing owners to destroy their magazines, turn them over to law enforcement, permanently modify them to comply with California’s 10-round limit, or remove them from the state. The appeals court, though, has stayed enforcement of that portion of the law. If the Supreme Court denies cert, it’s almost guaranteed that the Ninth Circuit would lift that stay and California could start prosecuting anyone found in possession of “large capacity” magazines, even if they lawfully purchased them.
I’d love for the Court to hear each and every one of these cases, but that’s not a realistic possibility. The Court could end up holding on to one or more of these cases pending the outcome in Wolford v. Lopez and U.S. v. Hemani, though I don’t know that either of those cases would have much of an impact on the constitutionality of California’s mag ban.
In one final bit of SCOTUS news, the lead attorney challenging Hawaii’s “vampire rule” in Wolford v. Lopez is asking for help from gun owners in order to “pay for historians, documents, affidavits, and the mountain of legal costs” associated with a Supreme Court challenge. If you’d like to help attorney Alan Beck and the plaintiffs in Wolford, you can contribute to a GiveSendGo campaign. As of Wednesday afternoon Beck had raised nearly $40,000 of his $65,000 goal, and more than 400 patriots have contributed to the cause. Hopefully we can add to the number of donors and fully fund the campaign so that Beck can deliver the strongest arguments possible in the upcoming round of briefing and oral arguments next year.
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