Cautiously Pessimistic

Direct marketeer Alan Gottlieb is cautiously optimistic “that the U.S. Supreme Court will “step up to the plate” and expand further on the right to keep and bear arms that is protected by the Second Amendment in the case of the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. City of New York.” I’m not. And when Gottlieb says things are good, you know it’s gonna hit the fan.

Post-Heller and McDonald, the Supreme Court has been AWOL on the Second Amendment. Many people thought that would change with the appointments of Gorsuch and Kavanaugh allegedly giving the Court a “conservative” majority. How they figure that with “It’s not a fee, it’s a tax” Roberts beats the heck out of me.

We had a chance to test that theory with the bump stock ban. And they rejected a temporary stay of enforcement. Twice.

Slow learners thought that SCOTUS granting cert to NYSRPA v. NYC was a good sign. I was dubious, and more so when they instructed parties to be prepared to argue the mootness point. If you weren’t keeping up, when the Court took the case, NYC changed their law slightly in an attempt to make the case moot, so the Court would drop it.

Moot. Imagine a lawsuit for car accident damages where the defendant argues the case is moot because the crash is over. NYC screwed over gun owners for years, limiting their training and defense options.

It’s possible that the Supreme Court has seen the error of its ways. That could be why they took up a “moot” case. Perhaps they’ll rule that NYC’s limitations on firearm transport were unconstitutional. Given its history, especially recent history, I don’t think so.

I think it’s nothing more than a political show. The Court figured they had to be seen to do something on all these 2A cases, and they picked this one for the dog and pony show. They can say they leaned over backwards to give NYSRPA a chance, but gosh darn it, the mootness point was real. Dismissed.

But the really pessimistic possibility is that they won’t dismiss, and uphold the city’s old law. All it takes is five justices, and if Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are unknown qualities, Roberts is a proven lefty mole.

We shall see.

[Permission to republish this article is granted so long as it is not edited, and the author and The Zelman Partisans are credited.]

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