Arnold Conyers v. New York

Petitioner’s possession of a firearm in his home subjected him to five years’ imprisonment under New York law because he had prior non-violent convictions. The state court held that Mr. Conyers lacked standing to raise any Second Amendment defense because he had not applied for a gun license even though his prior non-violent felony convictions categorically barred a license. The state court also rejected the claim on the merits, without reference to any historical analogue supporting Petitioner’s lifetime disarmament. This petition presents two questions: I. Whether, and under what circumstances, a state can invoke state standing law to bar a criminal defendant from invoking the Second Amendment as a defense because he never previously applied for a gun license that the law categorically denied him? II. Whether permanently barring even in-home gun possession on the basis of prior nonviolent convictions, without any finding of dangerousness, violates the fundamental right of self-defense the Second Amendment protects?