By Lyle Denniston
SCOTUSblog
Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, sitting temporarily on a federal appeals court, suggested in an opinion on Tuesday that it might be unconstitutional for a state to deny handgun licenses to individuals who have only temporary homes in the state, when they want a gun to protect their home there. And, in discussing the need for care about gun safety, the O’Connor opinion cited the Newtown school childrens’ massacre as a reason to keep guns out of the “wrong hands.”
The comments came as she wrote for a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court, as it asked New York’s highest state court for an interpretation of a state law on who may obtain a handgun permit in the state. The case involves a Louisiana man, Alfred G. Osterweil, who has a vacation home in New York, but was denied a permit because his formal residence is in Louisiana. He claimed the denial violated his Second Amendment right to have a gun. (The case is Osterweil v Bartlett, Circuit docket 11-2420.)
