SCOTUS Will Decide Who Can Be Disarmed — And Where

SCOTUSblog legal analyst Haley Proctor, writing in her recurring Second Amendment series, identifies the three axes anti-gun lawmakers keep manipulating to strangle your rights: who can be disarmed, what weapons can be banned, and where lawful carry can be prohibited.

This isn't academic. These are the exact pressure points that blue-state politicians like Gavin Newsom, Kathy Hochul, and J.B. Pritzker have exploited for years — gutting Bruen and Heller in practice while nodding at them on paper.

Since the Court's landmark 2022 Bruen decision, lower courts have tied themselves in knots searching for 18th-century analogues to justify magazine bans, carry restrictions, and categorical disarmament of entire classes of citizens. Some judges follow the Constitution. Many don't.

The who question cuts deepest right now. Federal courts are actively wrestling with whether non-violent offenders, cannabis users, and people named in domestic restraining orders — often without a jury trial, sometimes without a conviction — can lose their Second Amendment rights permanently.

The what question targets the guns themselves. So-called 'assault weapon' bans in Illinois, California, and Maryland remain in active litigation, with circuit courts reaching wildly different conclusions about whether America's most popular rifle deserves constitutional protection. It does.

The where question is where states get sneaky. New York responded to Bruen by designating virtually every public space a 'sensitive location' — a legal sleight of hand engineered to make your carry permit worthless the moment you step off your property. Courts are still untangling that wreckage.

Acting AG Todd Blanche and the Justice Department now have a critical opportunity to file briefs that defend the Constitution instead of undermining it — a direct reversal from the Garland years.

SCOTUS built the framework in Heller and Bruen. The fights over who, what, and where will determine whether that framework holds or collapses under activist judicial pressure.

Know your rights, know the cases, and demand your elected representatives file amicus briefs that stand on the right side of the Bill of Rights.