Jonathan Turley: Gun rights showdown – Supreme Court case a potential big win for Second Amendment

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court will take up arguably the oldest and most controversial right in our history. New York State Rifle Association v. Bruen is the first major gun rights case in over 10 years to come before the Supreme Court and it has the makings of a major gun rights victory.

The case concerns concealed-carry restrictions that require a showing of "proper cause." Lower courts have upheld the New York law, but there are ample constitutional concerns over its vague standard, such as showing that you are "of good moral character." New York wants to exercise discretion in deciding who needs to carry guns in public while gun owners believe that the law flips the constitutional presumption in favor of such a right.

There are few constitutional rights that have been debated so long in this country as gun rights. Indeed, before other Englishmen were given a written guarantee of the right to bear arms, colonists in Virginia in 1607 were given such a written guarantee by the Crown. Since that time, the right to bear arms has been an ingrained part of our culture and ultimately our Constitution.

Despite that history, the meaning of the right has remained the subject of heated debate. That is evident from the fact that it was not until 2008 that the Supreme Court finally recognized the right to bear arms as an individual right in District of Columbia v. Heller. Two years after Heller, in McDonald v. City of Chicago, the court ruled that this right applied against the states.