Court tosses NY case that could have expanded gun rights

The Supreme Court sidestepped a major decision on gun rights Monday in a dispute over New York City's former ban on transporting guns.

The justices threw out a challenge from gun rights groups. It ruled that the city's move to ease restrictions on taking licensed, locked and unloaded guns outside the city limits, coupled with a change in state law to prevent New York from reviving the ban, left the court with nothing to decide.

The Supreme Court asked a lower court to consider whether the city's new rules still pose problems for gun owners.

The anti-climactic end to the Supreme Court case is a disappointment to gun rights advocates and relief to gun control groups who thought a conservative Supreme Court majority fortified by two appointees of President Donald Trump, Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, might use the case to expand on landmark decisions from a decade ago that established a right to keep a gun at home for self-defense.

But other guns cases remain in the high court's pipeline and the justices could decide to hear one or more of those next term.