The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a case on whether New York state can require citizens to prove their need for self-defence in order to get a gun-carrying permit. The case concerns five New Yorkers who had been denied permits, and who said the law violates their constitutional right to bear arms. The Supreme Court could consider the case in a future session.
The National Rifle Association supported the plaintiffs, saying the law amounted to a ban on carrying weapons outside of the home. "Courts would not tolerate for one second a regime that granted free speech or the privilege against self-incrimination only to those who could demonstrate an unusually heightened need for those constitutional protections," it wrote in an amicus brief filed in February. The law was upheld by a New York appeals court shortly before the Newtown school massacre of 20 children in December, which re-ignited a fierce national debate over gun control. Other states, including Maryland, California and Hawaii, have similar laws.