BATON ROUGE, LA – Attorney General Jeff Landry announced today that Louisiana and 22 other states have filed a brief to request the United States Supreme Court consider a case regarding the rights of law-abiding individuals to carry firearms outside of their homes. General Landry is calling for the Supreme Court to not only take up the case, but also protect the constitutional right to bear arms.

"Our second amendment rights do not end when we walk outside our front doors," said General Landry. "If our fundamental right of self-defense does not protect us outside of our homes, then all Americans are potentially left to the mercy of criminals on the streets."

In the Arizona-led amicus brief, General Landry – along with attorneys general and governors from the other states – asks the Supreme Court to review a recent lower court ruling in Rogers v. Grewal. This action comes amid the Third Circuit Court of Appeals failing to strike a New Jersey law that restricts an individual's right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense, unless the person can demonstrate a "justifiable need" to do so.

General Landry and his colleagues argue in their brief that similar Second Amendment-denying schemes have been struck down as unconstitutional in multiple circuit courts and that 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 latest push to protect gun rights comes on the heels of the Supreme Court’s decision to hear the case of New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. et al. v. City of New York et al., of which General Landry led a 17-State coalition against New York’s overreaching gun restrictions.

"It is a momentous decision for the Supreme Court to grant certiorari as this is the first time the high court will hear a major Second Amendment case since Heller eleven years ago," explained General Landry. "I am hopeful the court will use this opportunity to endorse the fundamental rights of all Americans to keep and bear arms and to ensure these rights are properly respected in all fifty states."

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The 22 states joining Louisiana in the Rogers v. Grewal brief are Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming through their Attorneys General and Kentucky and Mississippi through their Governors. A copy of the brief may be found in the More Resources box above.