Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to New York gun restrictions

Washington — The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to take up a legal dispute over a New York gun law that could expand the scope of the Second Amendment, leaving the high court, now with an expanded conservative majority, poised to address the politically charged issue of gun rights.

The Supreme Court's decision to consider the legal battle comes in the wake of a spate of mass shootings in recent weeks that have reignited the debate over gun control and spurred calls for Congress to pass legislation restricting access to firearms. Oral arguments will take place in the fall, in the court's next term. The high court has shied away from jumping into the contentious issue of gun rights since issuing its last major rulings in 2008 and 2010, when it found the Second Amendment protects the right to have firearms in the home for self-defense. The justices in June turned away a bevy of challenges to state laws placing restrictions on guns and, after hearing oral arguments, dismissed a dispute over a New York City rule restricting where licensed handgun owners could transport locked and unloaded firearms because the measure was changed.