Supreme Court hears gun control case that inspired court-packing threat from Dems

The Supreme Court took up its first major gun control case in nearly a decade on Monday, hearing arguments in a dispute between a gun advocacy group and New York over a statute that restricted the transportation of firearms outside city limits -- even when licensed, locked and unloaded.

The city's statute was later amended but the court heard arguments over the original measure anyway, in a case that could have ramifications for local gun laws. The fact the high court even considered the case -- New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. City of New York -- prompted a stunning complaint earlier this year from Democratic senators, who filed a brief essentially threatening to pack the court absent changes.

The warning underscored what could be at stake in Monday's case.

The Supreme Court has not issued a significant gun rights decision since 2008’s District of Columbia v. Heller. Since then the court applied Heller – which recognized the right to possess a firearm for purposes such as home protection – to states via the 14th Amendment in 2010’s McDonald v. City of Chicago. A 2016 ruling in Caetano v. Massachusetts, which dealt with a state ban on stun guns, did not focus on traditional firearms but acknowledged that the Second Amendment extends to other weapons as well.

It's unclear whether the case before the court on Monday could join the list of landmark Second Amendment cases.

The law in question said city residents could apply for a "premises" license to keep a firearm in their home, but they had to keep the weapons at home. Licensees were permitted to take their guns to one of the seven authorized city shooting ranges if kept in a locked container. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association fought the law, claiming it was unconstitutional to keep people from bringing their weapons to second homes or ranges outside of the city.