Published September 25, 2026 at 5:00 AM ET · Updated September 28, 2026 at 2:08 PM ET
Critics say Ninth Circuit misses the point of Bruen in gun ruling
2 independent outlets are covering this story, first reported here by The Reload. Verification: Corroborated (how we verify). Every headline links to the original reporting.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld gun purchase restrictions by applying a carve out to the Supreme Court's Bruen decision. Critics argue the ruling misreads the Bruen precedent and its standard for reviewing Second Amendment cases.
Patriot Watch first flagged this story 6 d ago, when The Reload reported it. Coverage has since grown to 2 independent outlets. The most recent report came 2 d ago from Bearing Arms.
⚖ The Constitutional Angle
Bruen held that when the Second Amendment's plain text covers conduct, it is presumptively protected and government must justify the restriction with the historical tradition of firearm regulation, not means-end balancing. Heller said the right is not unlimited and longstanding conditions on commercial sale remain presumptively lawful. So any carve out for purchase rules must itself be grounded in history.
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.
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.
Precedent facts from the PW Law Library — primary-source verified & independently audited
