New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn., Inc. v. Bruen
Supreme Court of the United States · No. 20-843 · 597 U.S. 1
👍Favorable to gun rights
Struck down New York's proper-cause carry requirement and adopted a text-and-history test for Second Amendment claims.
GunMapUSA assessment of the outcome's direction, not a statement that the court decided rightly or wrongly.
What the court held
Two New York residents denied unrestricted handgun carry licenses challenged the state's requirement that applicants show 'proper cause,' meaning a special need for self-protection beyond that of the general community. The Supreme Court held the proper-cause requirement violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from carrying handguns in public, and rejected the two-step means-end scrutiny framework the courts of appeals had used, replacing it with a test based on the Second Amendment's text and the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation. Justice Breyer dissented, arguing the historical record supports licensing regimes like New York's and that courts should weigh the state's public-safety interests.
Summarized from the court's opinion.
What this case is about
New York's "proper cause" requirement for a license to carry a handgun in public
GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.
Key Dates
- 2022-06-23 — Decided
Sources
- CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08
Summary of public court records. Not legal advice.