New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. City of New York

Gun owners challenged a New York City rule that stopped them from taking a licensed, locked, and unloaded handgun to a second home or shooting range outside the city. After New York and the city changed those rules, the Supreme Court said the owners' requests for declaratory and injunctive relief were moot.

In a per curiam opinion, the Court said the case was moot after New York changed the law and the city amended its firearm transport rule.

“After New York changed the law and the city amended the rule to allow that transport, the request for declaratory and injunctive relief was moot.”

The Court did not answer the bigger Second Amendment, Commerce Clause, or right-to-travel questions. For example, licensed New York City gun owners could transport their unloaded handguns under the new rules, but this case did not settle similar disputes elsewhere.

This Supreme Court docket action is finished. The practical result is that the old rule is no longer the focus of this case, and the broader constitutional questions were left unresolved here.

The dispute was over a New York City rule limiting where licensed owners could take a locked, unloaded handgun. The owners said that rule violated several constitutional protections.

It means the Court did not give a nationwide answer on the constitutional questions. New York City's changed rule mattered most for local owners who wanted to travel to another home or range.

There was no further Supreme Court step in this docket action. The Court finished the case without deciding the underlying constitutional merits.