The number of gun-rights court cases in the U.S. has skyrocketed since the Supreme Court decided New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, according to a new paper from law professors Rebecca Brown, Lee Epstein and Mitu Gulati. The ruling said courts only uphold restrictions on Second Amendment rights only if there's a long history of similar regulations. That has given attorneys fresh avenues to challenge a slew of gun laws, Axios reports. "Every lawyer defending clients on a gun-related claim must consider whether they have a Second Amendment defense," the paper says. Federal courts handed down 865 gun rights decisions in 2023, up from 121 in 2021. In the post-Bruen era, 11% of cases have come down in favor of gun rights, up from just 3% before the Supreme Court decided District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.
Republican judicial appointees are slightly more likely to find in favor of gun rights: They now do so in 14% of decisions, compared to 8% for Democratic appointees. Judges appointed by President Trump are also much more likely to find in favor of gun rights. That's especially true if they're under the age of 55 and deciding cases that will be published in a regional or federal book of cases. Judges under 55 are considered to be "auditioners" meaning they're looking to receive promotions. In reported cases, they find in favor of gun rights 61% of the time. After Bruen increased judicial discretion in gun cases, the authors write, "perhaps the Trump judges were taking the opportunity to signal to Trump that they support his agenda." The high court's most recent gun-rights ruling, in a case barring domestic violence defenants from possessing guns, increases the amount of discretion given to individual judges by Bruen. The paper concludes: "Bruen has fueled, rather than settled, partisan divide over a fundamental constitutional right."