Everytown Law Responds After Supreme Court Says it Will Hear Appeal in Challenge to New York Gun Safety Law

NEW YORK — Everytown Law, the litigation arm of Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, today released the following statement after the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Corlett, a case involving an NRA affiliate’s challenge to New York’s permitting requirements for carrying guns in public.

“The stakes are high any time the Supreme Court considers a case about public safety laws, and they’re particularly high now,” said Eric Tirschwell, managing director of Everytown Law. “Gun violence has only worsened during the pandemic, and a ruling that opened the door to weakening our gun laws could make it even harder for cities and states to grapple with this public health crisis. Fortunately, the courts have repeatedly backed states’ authority to pass public safety laws, and while the Supreme Court’s makeup has changed, the Constitution has not.”

Click here to read an Everytown brief filed in the case at the district court level.

2020 was one of the deadliest years on record for the United States, with an estimated 19,300 people killed in gun homicides or non-suicide-related shootings—a 25 percent increase over 2019. An Everytown analysis of gun deaths tracked by Gun Violence Archive indicates that total deaths from gun violence in 2020 will likely exceed 40,000—the highest total in more than two decades.

One year ago, on April 27, 2020, the Supreme Court rebuffed the same NRA affiliate’s attempts to obtain a Second Amendment ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York, ruling in a 6-3 decision that the case was largely moot.