The Supreme Court has declined to hear the Woollard case [pdf]. At this point, the only conclusion I can reach is that they’re doing their best to simply avoid the issue. When they turned away the Kachalsky case last term, the common wisdom was that they were going to hear this one instead.

As it is, we’ve got a clear split among the lower courts, so the matter begs for resolution. The 2nd Circuit decision in Kachalsky conflicts with Woollard, with two cases from the Puerto Rico Supreme Court, and with the 7th Circuit’s decision in Moore.



Two things are at issue: whether the right to keep and bear arms is limited to the home, and what level of scrutiny must be applied to regulations of the right. For now, both questions remain unanswered.

The Court is hearing United States v. Castleman, but that case is about a minor semantic issue with Tennessee’s domestic violence law.