The Supreme Court rolled a grenade into constitutional jurisprudence and the world of public safety in 2008 when it held in Heller v. District of Columbia, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), that the Second Amendment entitles individuals to possess handguns in their homes. Eleven years later, that grenade has yet to detonate because since Heller, the court has not decided a single case about whether the Second Amendment right extends further, and the lower courts consistently have rejected attempts to expand the right.

But the Supreme Court may be preparing to pull the pin. Following on the heels of the arrival of pro-gun Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the court late last month accepted a case out of New York that threatens to curtail dramatically the ability of states and localities to regulate firearms. The case also will allow the court to address a jurisprudential issue that poses a profound dilemma for many civil libertarians: the interrelationship between the doctrine governing gun rights and the doctrine governing other provisions of the Bill of Rights, such as the First Amendment right to free speech.

A Brief Background