The Supreme Court has ordered New York City to finally answer for its ban on stun guns, dealing a setback to city officials who had previously tried to dodge the fight altogether by refusing to respond to the case.
The justices are weighing whether to take up Calce v. New York City, a case brought by the Second Amendment Foundation arguing that a federal appeals court botched its application of a decade-old Supreme Court precedent when it upheld the city’s ban. After New York City initially waived its right to respond to the petition back in August, the Supreme Court has now formally ordered the city to file a response by October 8.
Second Amendment Foundation Senior Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack said the group was frustrated that New York City has kept defending what he called an unconstitutional ban, but said the group is hopeful the justices will finally take up the case. Sack noted that the outcome of two other pending Second Amendment cases, Viramontes and Grant, both dealing with assault weapons bans, could directly inform how the court handles the stun gun issue. He added that the city’s forced response is a positive sign, since any case the justices are seriously considering needs full briefing from both sides.
The case centers on the Supreme Court’s landmark 2016 ruling in Caetano v. Massachusetts, a unanimous decision that struck down a stun gun ban on Second Amendment grounds. The Second Amendment Foundation leaned heavily on that precedent in its petition, arguing the New York case is essentially “Caetano 2.0,” accusing the lower court of flouting the same precedent that doomed the Massachusetts ban.
In his concurring opinion in the 2016 case, Justice Samuel Alito noted that hundreds of thousands of stun guns had been sold across dozens of states, writing that while less popular than handguns, they remain widely owned and accepted as a legitimate means of self-defense — making Massachusetts’ outright ban unconstitutional.
For now, all eyes turn to New York City’s Law Department, which must decide how to defend a policy the Supreme Court has already signaled skepticism toward once before. With the justices actively hearing other major Second Amendment cases this term, gun rights advocates say the momentum may finally be shifting in their favor — and blue-city gun bans could be the next domino to fall.
