NYC blinks!
New York City limits on transporting guns eased in effort to get Supreme Court challenge dismissed

By Richard Wolf
USA Today
June 21st. 2019

WASHINGTON – New York City announced Friday it has amended rules restricting where licensed guns can be taken outside the home, a move intended to prompt the Supreme Court to dismiss a challenge from gun rights groups.

The change, posted on a city website without fanfare, allows gun owners to take their firearms to a home, business or shooting range outside city limits. Until now, the city had limited those with possession licenses to seven shooting ranges inside city limits.

G​​​​​​un owners who sought to take their firearms to second homes or shooting ranges outside the city challenged the rules in federal court, but the rules were upheld last year by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The Supreme Court agreed in January to hear the case next fall.

Gun control groups had urged the city to change its rules in hopes a quick surrender would prompt the justices to drop the case. The city's police department held a public hearing last month on the proposed changes and announced a final rule Friday that will take effect in 30 days.

"The Police Department ... reviewed the rules and determined that it was possible to modify them to reflect a carefully considered accommodation to the interests of licensees while also ensuring the safe transport of handguns," the announcement said.

The Supreme Court challenge has become a rallying cry for gun rights groups seeking a major expansion of the court's Second Amendment precedents. Now that the rules have been changed, it's not clear whether the case will be heard.

Gun rights groups have argued in court papers that the justices should not dismiss the case regardless of any changes. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, which brought the case against the city, accused it of a "nakedly transparent effort to evade this court’s review" by moving to ease the restrictions.

The Cato Institute, a libertarian group favoring gun rights, warned that the rules could be changed "just long enough for the case to be dismissed."