Bruen, Rahimi and the History-and-Tradition Test

After Heller, lower courts generally weighed gun laws by balancing the burden on the right against the government's public safety goals. In New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen in 2022, the Supreme Court rejected that approach by a 6-3 vote. It struck down New York's requirement that people show 'proper cause' to obtain a licence to carry a handgun in public, and said gun laws must be consistent with the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.

Critics, including the dissent by Justice Breyer, argued that the test was hard to apply and ignored modern gun violence. In United States v. Rahimi in 2024, the Court ruled 8-1 that the government may disarm a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order who has been found to pose a credible threat, explaining that modern laws need not have an identical historical twin. Together the cases show the Court refining a new method that lower courts continue to apply.