SCOTUS Punts on Assault Rifle Cases

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Short article, one quote — but it's worth unpacking what's actually happening here before everyone starts reading tea leaves.

SCOTUS passing on these AR and magazine ban cases right now doesn't mean the fight is over. It means the Court is running a queue, and the cases already on the docket for merits decisions get to go first. If you've been following 2A litigation since Bruen, this pattern is familiar — the justices have been deliberately pacing themselves through this stuff rather than taking everything at once.

"Even if the class of cases like Mr. Burnett's is small, the stakes are high."
— Justice Neil Gorsuch, dissenting

Gorsuch was writing about Sixth Amendment rights getting gutted through procedural maneuvering — but that logic translates directly to how 2A cases get buried or delayed. If constitutional rights can be effectively nullified by just... not hearing the case, that's a problem regardless of which amendment is on the line. Worth keeping an eye on how he writes when the gun cases actually get in front of them.

The practical reality is that anyone living under a state-level AR or magazine ban is still living under it through at least late summer. That's not nothing — that's another range season, another self-defense calculation, another conversation at the gun store counter about what's legal to bring in from out of state.

March 23 is the next conference order window. Mark it or don't, but don't expect fireworks — the more likely outcome is another "still waiting."

For those of you in states with these restrictions already in place — how has it actually changed what you own, carry, or run at a match? Genuine question.

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Read the full article in The Handbook → | By Steve Duskett