Some judges, citing the Supreme Court's ruling this year to strengthen protections for carrying concealed weapons, are striking down other gun regulations, The Wall Street Journal is reporting.
The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled on June 23 that the Constitution provides a right to carry a gun outside the home.
The ruling, a major victory for gun owners, came in a case involving a New York law, requiring a concealed carry application to demonstrate a special need for the protection.
NBC News noted gun owners had filed suit maintaining the requirement made it nearly impossible for ordinary citizens to get the license. They claimed that the law turned the Second Amendment into a limited privilege, not a constitutional right.
As a result of the high court's ruling, judges are now supposed to focus more on whether a regulation "is consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulations and less on whether gun regulations advance present day government interests, according to the Journal.
U.S. District Judge Glenn Suddaby has struck down key elements of the New York's hurried attempt to rewrite its handgun laws after the old ones were struck down by the high court.
Suddaby last week temporarily blocked parts of a New York law that put in place new gun permitting requirements — and sought to ban firearms from certain sensitive locations, like Times Square.
"It's definitely fair to say it is a harder test for the government to satisfy," said Jacob Charles, a law professor at Pepperdine University.
Here's a look at some other cases impacted by the Supreme Court ruling:
- U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Texas, has ruled the Constitution protects the right of 18-to-20-year-olds to carry handguns to protect themselves outside the home. That case is now pending before the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- U.S. District Judge David Counts in western Texas, applied the Supreme Court's guidance in September when he threw out federal charges against Jose Gomez Quiroz, who was accused of violating a federal law prohibiting people under felony indictment from buying firearms.
- In September, U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika in Delaware, cited the Supreme Court ruling when she suspended enforcement of a state law criminalizing possession or manufacture of unserialized, homemade firearms.