Having found the carrying of a handgun in public to be encompassed textually in the right to “bear arms,” the Supreme Court in Bruen added that the historical record compiled by New York failed to demonstrate a tradition of broadly prohibiting the public carry of commonly used firearms for self-defense or of requiring citizens to demonstrate a special need for self-defense. It then inserted footnote 9 to that statement, explaining that “nothing in our analysis should be interpreted to suggest the unconstitutionality of the 43 States’ ‘shall-issue’ licensing regimes, under which ‘a general desire for self-defense is sufficient to obtain a [permit].’” However, the Court warned that “because any permitting scheme can be put toward abusive ends, we do not rule out constitutional challenges to shall-issue regimes where, for example, lengthy wait times in processing license applications or exorbitant fees deny ordinary citizens their right to public carry.”

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