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“Sensitive Places” Embolden Criminals and Threaten the Law-abiding

Monday, September 15, 2025

“Sensitive Places” Embolden Criminals and Threaten the Law-abiding

A beyond horrific murder flashed before our eyes in recent weeks, and a nation collectively mourned Iryna Zarutska after the sickening attack that took her life on a public train in Charlotte, North Carolina. It was yet another stark reminder that evil strikes quickly, and it can happen at any time, in any place (particularly when, as in the case of the Charlotte suspect, the legal system appears incapable or unwilling to incapacitate repeat offenders).

Because of that very fact, the law-abiding citizens who choose to carry firearms for self-defense in public are again left frustrated by imaginary boundaries that continue to limit their ability to defend themselves. Firearm prohibitionists argue, “The presence of guns make places more dangerous.” Wrong. Bad people make places more dangerous. And some places may be more likely to attract or accommodate bad people than others, not the least of which are public transportation facilities, including subway stations, bus stops, etc.

If citizens cannot count on courts or policymakers to prioritize their safety, they are left to their own devices when situational awareness is simply not enough. Rules that restrict an individual’s right to bear arms for self-defense advantage criminals, and as public officials dither, lives are in danger.

NRA has often reported on the safety ills of the NYC subway system, even documenting that it was deemed contractually too dangerous for former New York Giants Quarterback, Eli Manning.

Recall that in the landmark United States Supreme Court decision Heller v. District of Columbia, it was noted that the Second Amendment’s protection of an individual right to keep and bear arms did not cast doubt on the validity of “laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings.” However, Justice Clarence Thomas in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen later warned that the expansion of “sensitive places” beyond historical precedents is unconstitutional:

[E]xpanding the category of “sensitive places” simply to all places of public congregation that are not isolated from law enforcement defines the category of “sensitive places” far too broadly. [New York’s] argument would in effect exempt cities from the Second Amendment and would eviscerate the general right to publicly carry arms for self-defense...

Justice Thomas’s warning continues to be ignored.

Just last week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Schoenthal v. Raoul, a case out of Chicago in which NRA-ILA filed an amicus brief, that broad limits on self-defense can continue.

The Chicago Transit Authority and Illinois state law prohibit carrying firearms on public transit. The Seventh Circuit, in reversing an earlier district court ruling, held that the Second Amendment “does not bar the people’s representatives from enacting laws-consistent with our nation’s historical tradition of regulation—that ensure public transportation systems remain free from accessible firearms.”

Not only is carrying firearms in public for self-defense clearly covered by the plain text of the Second Amendment, there is no historical tradition of banning firearms on public transit, even though forms of it existed in the Founding era. The Seventh Circuit essentially admitted as much, when it asserted: “We are in the project of comparing regulations, not places.” Then, “reasoning” from mid to late 19th Century bans on places like “ball[s] and fandango[es],” the court came up with a broad rule that firearm prohibitions in “in crowded and confined places” are presumptively permissible.

This tendency of courts to stretch historical analogies on “sensitive places” far past their breaking point is leaving far too many people in vulnerable locations to be victimized.  Judge Kolar writes that the “sensitive places doctrine tells us that the appropriate balance allows for temporary restrictions in scattered discrete places where the risk is simply different…”  The risk on public transit is indeed different. These places are inherently more dangerous and call for even more accommodation for self-defense rights. No one in the Founding era thought the solution to robberies of stage coaches and trains was to ban passengers from carrying guns.

Judge Kolar is concerned about the people’s representatives being able to ensure “public transportation systems remaining free from accessible firearms,” yet the people’s representatives are doing precious little to ensure the transportation systems remain free of violent criminals.

Public transportation in Chicago, in fact, is about as “insensitive” a place as exists in public life. According to a 2024 study done by the Illinois Policy Institute, over 1 in every 100,000 Chicago Transit Authority rides resulted in a crime. That’s about 1 crime every 3 hours, considering 765,566 rides per weekday on average. About 45% of all crimes reported at CTA stations result in an arrest, according to analysis of city data, meaning criminals have a better than even chance of getting away with their predations. And those are just the crimes that get reported. Many more do not, as few victims expect justice.

Daily there are headlines nationwide featuring the safety hazards of public transit. Attacks are often random. Carrying a gun on Chicago public transportation is illegal, but so are assaults, thefts, and harassment. Gun owners are obeying the law, but Chicago criminals are not.  

Violence prevention and mental healthcare sometimes pose complex questions, but the self-defense part of the equation is simple: the need can arise wherever a person happens to be. Rulings like the one from the Seventh Circuit demonstrate the continued work needed to fend off ever-expanding “gun-free zones” that, like the may-issue permitting condemned by the Supreme Court, make carry the exception, rather than the rule. 

Simply put, “sensitive places” show an insensitivity to the Second Amendment and the lives of the people it is meant to protect.

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North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Tuesday, September 30, 2025

North Carolina: Update on Permitless Carry

Last week the North Carolina General Assembly briefly returned from recess and re-referred Senate Bill 50, Freedom to Carry NC, to the House Rules Committee.

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

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Monday, September 29, 2025

Canada’s Public Safety Minister on Gun Ban & Confiscation: “Don’t Ask Me to Explain the Logic”

There have been multiple developments on the Canadian gun grab and ban in the last few days, but the most astounding has got to be a leaked bombshell recording of the Liberal Public Safety Minister, ...

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Thursday, October 2, 2025

Federal Court Strikes Down Biden Administration’s “Engaged in the Business” Rule in NRA Case

Yesterday, in Butler v. Bondi, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama held that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives exceeded its statutory authority by issuing its 2024 Final Rule expanding ...

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

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Monday, September 22, 2025

Canada’s Gun Grab: Amnesty Expiration Approaches as Top Officials Sow Confusion

Canada’s Liberal government has consistently and misleadingly used “buyback” to describe the 2020 mandatory “assault weapon” confiscation law, in an attempt to make the scheme appear less hostile to property rights and Canada’s responsible gun ...

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

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Monday, September 29, 2025

Gun Controllers Rage at Everytown Over “Firearms Training,” Demand “Abstinence”

A revealing article in USA Today last week reported that Everytown for Gun Safety’s new “firearms training” program, Train SMART, “met stiff opposition from [Everytown’s] own members and longtime supporters.” 

Open Carry Comes to Florida

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Monday, September 22, 2025

Open Carry Comes to Florida

On September 10, the First District Court of Appeal of the State of Florida struck down the Sunshine State’s prohibition on open carry as a violation of the Second Amendment in the case McDaniel v. Florida. ...

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Friday, October 3, 2025

U.S. Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Challenge to Hawaii’s Private Property Default Carry Ban

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the petition for certiorari in Wolford v. Lopez, a challenge to Hawaii’s law forbidding carry on private property open to the public (such as restaurants, gas stations, and grocery stores) ...

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Friday, October 3, 2025

NRA Files Amicus Brief in Fifth Circuit Case Challenging the Federal Switchblade Act

Yesterday, the National Rifle Association filed an amicus brief in Knife Rights, Inc. v. Bondi, urging the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to reverse the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas’s decision upholding the Federal ...

California Loves Gun Control, Loathes Crime Control

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Monday, September 29, 2025

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California is always adding to its mountain of gun control laws aimed at disarming law-abiding citizens.

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Pennsylvania: Another Gun Bill Fails on House Floor

On Tuesday, another anti-gun bill was defeated on the House floor, failing to receive approval by a 101-102 vote.    

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NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.