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Gun-Rights Appeals Turned Away by U.S. Supreme Court

Gun-Rights Appeals Turned Away by U.S. Supreme Court

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court turned away 10 appeals that sought to broaden constitutional firearm protections, rejecting calls for rights to own a semi-automatic assault rifle and carry a handgun in public.

The rebuffs are a blow to the gun-rights movement, which has been trying for a decade to get the court to take up a major new Second Amendment case. They have been banking on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who replaced the swing vote Anthony Kennedy in 2018, to make the court more assertive on the issue.

The rejections included challenges to New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland laws that sharply limit who can get a permit to carry a handgun for self-defense. Other unsuccessful appeals challenged assault-weapon bans in Massachusetts and Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago.

Kavanaugh joined Justice Clarence Thomas in saying the court should have agreed to hear a challenge to a New Jersey law that requires people to show a “justifiable need” to get a carry permit. Critics say very few people can meet that standard.

“One would think that such an onerous burden on a fundamental right would warrant this court’s review,” Thomas wrote for the pair.

In addition, the Supreme Court refused to scrutinize a California safety law that critics say effectively bans the sale of new handgun models by requiring technology that doesn’t currently exist in the marketplace. And the court left intact a federal law that bars dealers from selling handguns directly to people in other states.

The justices earlier this year dropped a fight over New York City’s restrictions on the transportation of licensed handguns. The court said that dispute became moot after the city and state changed their laws.

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