The Association of New Jersey Rifle and Pistol Clubs, Inc. (ANJRPC) is the official National Rifle Association State Association in New Jersey. ANJRPC is also one of the two petitioners in Thomas R. Rogers and ANJRPC v. Gurbir S. Grewal, et al listed on the cover of a cert petition filed with the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Their cert petition argues that the Supreme Court’s first in-depth analysis of the Second Amendment right, which was written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, held that states can ban Open Carry in favor of concealed carry. What Justice Scalia actually wrote was Open Carry is the right guaranteed by the Constitution and the 19th-century prohibitions on concealed carry are constitutional. All nine justices were in agreement that concealed carry can be banned.
Premising one’s cert petition on a lie is a good enough reason to deny the petition outright.
That decision was District of Columbia v. Heller. Published in June of 2008 and written by the late Justice Antonin Scalia. This is the eleventh Christmas in which the various so-called gun-rights groups have failed to file a cert petition challenging any restriction on Open Carry.
Were Supremes Confused?
This is not the first time that a challenge to New Jersey’s handgun carry law has failed. The last time was in 2013. In that case, Drake v. Filko, the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) lawyers argued that states can ban Open Carry in favor of concealed carry but since New Jersey handgun carry permits allow one to carry a handgun in public openly or concealed, the Supreme Court need not concern itself with that “confusing” question, said the SAF lawyers.
Given that all nine justices who sat on the
