Is There a Constitutional Right to Transport a Gun?

On Monday, the Supreme Court heard the case New York Rifle and Pistol Association v. the City of New York which centers around a New York City gun regulation prohibiting residents from taking their guns to second homes and shooting ranges outside the city. After New York’s NRA affiliate and some gun-owning residents challenged the regulation, New York changed it – raising the question of whether this case is now “moot.” Explaining the “mootness” issue and diving into the legal and practical implications of the case – Second Amendment experts Darrell Miller of the Duke Center for Firearms Law and Clark Neily of Cato join host Jeffrey Rosen. They discuss the history, text, and tradition of the Second Amendment, what the right to “bear arms” really means, and how the Court should decide its first major Second Amendment case in almost a decade.

Here’s some vocabulary that may be helpful to know this week: 

• Mootness: A case becomes moot if the controversy that was present at the start of litigation no longer exists. 
• Judicial review doctrines: A judicial review test is what courts use to determine the constitutionality of a statute or ordinance. There are three main levels in constitutional law: 
• Strict scrutiny: For a law to survive a court’s review under strict scrutiny, it must be narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.
• Intermediate Scrutiny: A level down from strict scrutiny. The law must be substantially related to an important government interest.
• Rational basis: The most deferential kind of review. The law must be rationally related to a legitimate government interest.

Special thanks to the Duke Center for Firearms Law.

Questions or comments about the podcast? Email us at podcast@constitutioncenter.org.