AG Paxton Joins 23-State Coalition Urging U.S. Supreme Court to Confirm that the Second Amendment Applies Beyond the Home

AUSTIN, Texas -- Joining a 23-state coalition, Attorney General Ken Paxton today filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up a case involving the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding individuals to carry firearms outside of their homes.

The multistate coalition asked the high court to review a recent lower court ruling in Rogers v. Grewal, where the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals allowed New Jersey to restrict an individual’s right to carry a handgun outside their home for self-defense unless the government determines the citizen has a “justifiable need” to do so.

Thomas Rogers is a New Jersey businessman who applied for a carry permit in January 2017. Rogers services ATM machines and carries large amounts of cash as part of his job, often in high-crime areas. Nonetheless, he was denied the exercise of his right to carry because his local police chief decided he did not have a "justifiable need" under New Jersey's law.

Texas and the other states demonstrate in their brief that similar prohibitive Second Amendment schemes have been struck down as unconstitutional in multiple circuit courts, and New Jersey’s subjective-issue regime for approving handgun carry permits infringes upon and restricts an individual’s ability to lawfully and effectively carry a firearm outside the home.

“This case provides the U.S. Supreme Court with the opportunity to protect a fundamental Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms for self-defense,” Attorney General Paxton said. “New Jersey’s law denies New Jersey residents that right. By striking down the unconstitutional law, the Supreme Court would provide the guidance necessary to inform lower courts how to decide cases concerning the right to keep and bear arms.”

Texas is joined on the Arizona-led brief by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky (via Governor Bevin), Louisiana, Mississippi (via Governor Bryant), Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Read a copy of the brief here: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/admin/2019/Press/AZ%20Amicus%20Brief%20-%20Rogers%20v.%20Grewal_FINAL%20-%2023%20States.pdf