Does the Second Amendment Secure a Right to Carry Guns in Most Public Places?

The Supreme Court will consider the petition Thursday.

The case is Rogers v. Grewal, which challenges New Jersey's restrictive firearms carry license policy. There's a split on the subject among lower courts; the details are a bit complicated, but the short version is that the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Circuits have upheld such restrictive policies, while the Seventh and D.C. Circuits, together with the Illinois Supreme Court have struck down some such policies. (A panel of the Ninth Circuit has also struck down such a policy, but that has been vacated pending rehearing en banc.) The split between the Third Circuit decision below and the D.C. Circuit decision striking down a similar D.C. law is especially sharp; you can see more in the briefs here.

We may know more Thursday (May 23), though it's also possible that the Court will "relist" the case several times, while the Justices are considering whether or not to hear it. It's also possible that the Court will hold the case pending New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, the Second Amendment case that the Court has already agreed to hear, and that will be heard in the Fall. Depending on the reasoning of the New York State Rifle & Pistol decision, the Court could then either agree to hear Rogers, decide not to hear it, or send it back to the Third Circuit to be reconsidered in light of the New York State Rifle & Pistol decision. But the Court could also decide to hear Rogers (or decide not to hear it) even before it decides New York State Rifle & Pistol.