After Supreme Court ruling, it's open season on US gun laws

The Supreme Court ruling expanding gun rights threatens to upend firearms restrictions across the country as activists wage court battles over everything from bans onAR-15-style guns to age limits

A judge temporarily blocked a Colorado town from banning the sale and possession of certain semi-automatic weapons because of a decision handed down in June.

The first major gun decision in more than a decade could change gun laws in the U.S.

According to Evan Nappen, a New Jersey gun rights attorney, the gun rights movement has been given a weapon of mass destruction.

The court battles come as the Biden administration and police departments across the U.S. struggle to combat a surge in violent crime and mass shooting.

More time will be spent in courtrooms regardless of who wins the case.

Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel and vice president at Brady, the gun control group, said that a lot of tax dollars and government resources should be used to stop gun crime.

The House voted to renew a ban on high-powered semi-automatic weapons, but that effort is doomed in the Senate as Republicans push back on firearms restrictions.

A New York law that required people to get a license to carry a concealed weapon in public was struck down by the Supreme Court. Several other states have similar laws that are expected to be affected by the ruling.

Police chiefs can no longer deny or impose restrictions on licenses just because the person doesn't have a good reason to have a gun. Republicans in New York predict that the concealed- weapon law will be overturned.

Lower courts had used a test for evaluating challenges to gun laws that was changed by the high court.

According to the opinion written by Justice Clarence Thomas, judges should no longer consider the law's public interests. They should only consider if the law is in line with the Second Amendment.

The Supreme Court has invited the gun lobby to file lawsuits against almost every gun law in the country.

Several other cases have been ordered by the Supreme Court to be reexamined. There are laws in California and New Jersey that limit the amount of bullets in a magazine.

Gun rights groups are challenging similar bans in other states.

The rifles at issue in this case are the sorts of bearable arms in common use for lawful purposes that responsible and peaceable people across the U.S. possess. According to a New Jersey lawsuit brought in June, they are exactly what they would bring to service in militia duty.

There are challenges to restrictions on gun possession for 18 to 20 year olds in Texas and Pennsylvania. It was cited in a case challenging a federal ban on gun possession for people convicted of non-violent crimes who are sentenced to more than a year in prison.

A gun rights group is suing Colorado over the state's ban on magazines that hold more than 15 rounds, saying the high court ruling reinforces the group's argument that it is unconstitutional. Public defenders in New York City want judges to drop gun possession cases.

Some of the lawsuits will be unsuccessful. The Texas attorney general believes the Supreme Court ruling doesn't affect the state's age limit law, and more state and local governments can defend their gun laws as being in line with US history.

When the dust settles, only laws along the margins will be struck down, according to Adam Skaggs, chief counsel and policy director at the Giffords Law Center.

He said that most judges would see these for what they are, which is overreaching and lacking in merit.

Proponents of gun restrictions can look at a concurring opinion from the Supreme Court justice.

The Second Amendment allows for a variety of gun regulations, according to the Supreme Court. Background checks and mental health records are part of the licensing process to carry a gun, and states can forbid the carrying of firearms insensitive places such as schools and government buildings.

The Colorado decision was a positive sign for gun rights groups.

Raymond Moore said he was sympathetic to the town's goal of preventing mass shootings like the one that killed 10 people at a grocery store in Boulder last year. The gun rights groups have a strong case against the law because Moore didn't know of any precedent for it.

The executive director of the Rocky Mountain Gun Owners told The Associated Press that his group was considering going after other gun measures in Colorado, where Democrats hold the majority in the state legislature.

The Supreme Court's ruling gave us a four-ton wrecking ball, according to Rhodes.

That's right.

The story has been changed to say that Brady's Chief Counsel is Jonathan Lowy.

That's right.

Richer was reporting from Boston.