Published September 18, 2026 at 7:33 PM ET · Updated September 18, 2026 at 8:43 PM ET
Court rules out-of-state handgun sales ban violates Second Amendment
1 independent outlet is covering this story, first reported here by Reason. Verification: Watching (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
A court has ruled that a ban on out-of-state handgun sales violates the Second Amendment. The ruling addresses restrictions on handgun purchases across state lines.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 12 d ago, when Reason reported it. So far this remains a single-source report. The most recent report came 12 d ago from Reason.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Heller recognized an individual right to keep handguns for self-defense and noted longstanding conditions on commercial sale remain presumptively lawful. Bruen held that once the Amendment's text covers conduct, the government must justify a regulation with the Nation's historical tradition. A court striking such a ban concludes it is not one of those longstanding conditions on sale and fails Bruen's history test.
District of Columbia v. Heller 554 U.S. 570 (2008)
Vote: 5-4 · Opinion: Scalia
The Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia and to use it for traditionally lawful purposes such as self-defense within the home. The right is not unlimited: the Court noted that longstanding prohibitions (e.g., possession by felons and the mentally ill, carrying in sensitive places, conditions on commercial sale) remain presumptively lawful. D.C.'s ban on handgun possession in the home and its requirement that lawful firearms in the home be kept nonfunctional violate the Second Amendment.
New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen, Superintendent of New York State Police 597 U.S. 1 (2022)
Vote: 6-3 · Opinion: Thomas
New York's requirement that applicants demonstrate 'proper cause' — a special need for self-protection distinguishable from the general community — to obtain an unrestricted public-carry license violates the Fourteenth Amendment by preventing law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs from exercising their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public. The Court held the Second Amendment protects a right to carry handguns publicly for self-defense, and rejected the two-step means-end framework lower courts had applied after Heller.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
