Supreme Court to Decide on Gun Owners’ Rights to Carry Concealed Guns Outside

This case law update was written by Michael J. Sgarlat, an attorney at the law firm of Shaw Bransford & Roth, where he has practiced federal personnel and employment law since 2015. Mr. Sgarlat works with federal employees to respond to proposed disciplinary and adverse actions, and has experience litigating cases before the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

This week, the Supreme Court agreed to review whether the Second Amendment protects the right to carry a gun outside of the home without a license. This marks the first time in over a decade that the Court will weigh in on the Second Amendment.

The case before the Court, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Corlett, relates to a New York law requiring licenses to carry concealed firearms in public. Under the law, licenses may only be granted to applicants “when proper cause exists for the issuance thereof.” Absent such a showing, applicants may still receive a “premises” license that allows them to keep a firearm in their home or place of business, or a “restricted” license that allows them to carry in public for other purposes, such as hunting, target shooting, or employment.

Petitioners Robert Nash and Brandon Koch reside in Rensselaer County, and sought to obtain an unrestricted license to carry a concealed handgun in public. Nash and Koch acknowledged they do not face a special or unique danger. They just wanted to carry a handgun in public for the purpose of self-defense. 

Respondent Richard N. McNally, Jr., a state court judge who serves as a licensing officer for Rensselaer County, denied their applications for failure to establish “proper cause.” Instead, McNally issued to them licenses restricted to hunting and target shooting. Petitioner New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, Inc. alleges it has at least one unnamed member who also seeks to carry a handgun for self-defense and was denied a license to do so.

Petitioners filed in district court, alleging that New York’s firearms licensing statute violates the Second Amendment, and requested invalidation of the licensing statute on its face. Their complaint named McNally and Keith M. Corlett, the Superintendent of New York’s State Police, as defendants. The district court granted Respondents’ motion to dismiss, finding that Kachalsky v. County of Westchester, 701 F.3d 81 (2d. Cir. 2012), foreclosed the Petitioners’ claims when the Second Circuit upheld New York’s statute.

Petitioners then appealed to the Second Circuit. The Second Circuit affirmed the district court decision, stating that it had already decided in Kachalsky and in Libertarian Party of Erie Cty. v. Cuomo, 970 F.3d 106, 113 (2d Cir. 2020), that New York’s proper cause requirement does not violate the Second Amendment.

On December 17, 2020, Petitioners filed a petition for writ of certiorari. This week, on April 26, 2021, the Supreme Court granted the petition, limiting it to the following question: “Whether the State’s denial of petitioners’ applications for concealed-carry licenses for self-defense violated the Second Amendment.”

FEDagent will update its readers when oral argument is held. A date for oral argument has not yet been set. The Court will begin hearing cases on October 4, 2021.

Read the Petitioners’ petition

Read the Respondents’ brief in opposition

Read the Petitioners’ reply


For over thirty years, Shaw Bransford & Roth P.C. has provided superior representation on a wide range of federal employment law issues, from representing federal employees nationwide in administrative investigations, disciplinary and performance actions, and Bivens lawsuits, to handling security clearance adjudications and employment discrimination cases.

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