The U.S. Supreme Court's first major Second Amendment gun case in a decade fizzled on Monday as the justices decided they no longer had a live controversy before them.

In a 6-3 unsigned opinion, the majority said New York City's rule limiting the transport of firearms within the city's boundaries was moot because the rule had been repealed after the justices had granted review to a challenge by the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association. The new city rule now allows the transport of guns to a second home or shooting range, "which is the precise relief that petitioners requested in the prayer for relief in their complaint."

The court declined to consider the rifle association's claims that the city's new rule still infringed Second Amendment rights and that the association could seek damages for the imposition of the old rule. Court observers had been closely watching the case, as it carried the potential for an expansion of Second Amendment rights.