Gun rights win at the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the National Rifle Association on Thursday in a lawsuit over financial blacklisting from the state of New York.

Maria Vullo, the former head of the New York State Department of Financial Services, sent letters six years ago to banks and insurance companies asking them to reconsider conducting business with the NRA and other firearms entities. Attorneys for the NRA filed a lawsuit after some financial institutions cut ties with them.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote the opinion on behalf of the court, said that the actions must be considered against the backdrop of the authority exercised by Vullo as the chief financial regulator for the state of New York. The letters were therefore reasonably understood as coercive, supporting claims from the NRA about their violated First Amendment liberties at the hands of state officials.

Although the NRA was not the directly regulated party here, Vullo allegedly used the power of her office to target gun promotion by going after the NRAs business partners, Sotomayor continued in the opinion. Nothing in this case immunizes the NRA from regulation nor prevents government officials from condemning disfavored views. The takeaway is that the First Amendment prohibits government officials from wielding their power selectively to punish or suppress speech.

Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion that the Supreme Court reaffirmed the longstanding principle that a government official cannot coerce a private party to punish or suppress disfavored speech on her behalf.

National Foundation for Gun Rights Executive Director Hannah Hill noted that the actions from Vullo were such an outrageous violation of the First Amendment that even the left-leaning Justices agreed the rights of the NRA were infringed.

Various states have advanced bills protecting gun owners from discrimination in the financial system even as New York and other states take action against firearm interests. Montana Republican Governor Greg Gianforte signed a bill last year that prohibits unjust tracking of firearms sales by financial institutions, while Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee signed a similar measure to forbid financial institutions from declining a lawful payment card transaction based solely on the assignment or nonassignment of a firearms merchant category code.

New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik also introduced the Protecting Privacy in Purchases Act to ban the use of a merchant category code to track sales at gun stores. She contended that the practice violates the Constitution.

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