[JURIST] The US Supreme Court [official website] on Monday denied certiorari in Jackson v. San Francisco [docket; cert. petition, PDF], a case challenging a San Francisco law [text, PDF] requiring gun owners to keep handguns “stored in a locked container or disabled with a trigger lock that has been approved by the California Department of Justice.” Opponents of the law claim that it essentially renders their guns inoperable, making it impossible for them to defend themselves in the instance of a home invasion. Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia voted to review the challenge, stating in a dissent that the California law violates Second Amendment rights. Particularly, the justices said that the law conflicted with the court’s prior precedent in District of Columbia v. Heller [JURIST report], a case in which the court held that a law that rendered hand guns inoperable was unconstitutional.

Gun control has been the center of national attention since the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting [WSJ report] in December 2012. Earlier this year Michigan Governor Rick Snyder [official website] vetoed [text, PDF; JURIST report] gun legislation supported by the National Rifle Association (NRA) [advocacy website] and approved by both chambers of the Republican-controlled state legislation. Also this year the NRA sued the City of Pittsburgh [JURIST report] in January alleging a local gun ordinance violated Pennsylvania state law. In March 2013 then-Attorney General Eric Holder spoke before Congress [JURIST report] urging the federal legislature to pass gun control legislation. Also in March 2013 the Maryland Senate approved a bill [JURIST report] that would make it harder to get a gun license. In January 2013 US President Barack Obama announced that he signed 23 executive orders [JURIST report] to strengthen existing gun laws, as well as put pressure on Congress to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004. The previous day, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo [official website] signed legislation [JURIST report] that imposed tighter restrictions on gun and ammunition sales, banned any magazine that can hold more than seven rounds and implemented instant background checks on all ammunition purchases at the time of sale.