U.S. Supreme Court sidesteps major gun rights ruling but more cases loom

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a National Rifle Association-backed challenge to New York City restrictions on handgun owners transporting their firearms outside the home, avoiding for now the battle over the scope of the right to bear arms under the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment. There are other cases pending that could give the court's conservative majority a chance to widen gun rights including challenges to assault weapon bans in Massachusetts and Cook County, Illinois, and permit requirements to carry firearms outside the home in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland. The justices in an unsigned decision threw out the New York dispute because the measure that was challenged by individual gun owners and the state's affiliate of the influential NRA was rolled back by the city last July, rendering the case moot.