In June 2022, the Supreme Court dramatically expanded gun rights in a decision called New York State Rifle & Pistol Assn. v. Bruen.

The decision laid out a new test for lower courts to use in evaluating the constitutionality of gun restrictions, placing dozens of local, state, and federal gun laws under threat.

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Bruen has led to a wave of lawsuits against state and federal gun restrictions across the country. The Trace found that federal courts have ruled on more than 1,600 Bruen-based challenges to gun laws over the past two years.

Our data includes rulings from June 27, 2022, to August 20, 2024. Each dot represents one Second Amendment decision citing Bruen from a federal court.

The number of rulings is on the rise, straining the court system and raising public safety concerns.

There were, on average, 91 rulings per month in 2024, up from 63 per month in 2023.

The dots represent rulings, organized by month.

The vast majority of rulings answered Second Amendment challenges brought by criminal defendants. There were 1,460 in total. In most of these cases, the defendant sought to have a gun charge dismissed or a conviction overturned as unconstitutional.

The remaining 150 rulings were in civil lawsuits brought by gun rights groups, individuals, and other organizations.

In criminal cases, judges have sided with defendants to invalidate gun regulations in 53 rulings, or 4 percent of the total. Most of these rulings apply only to the defendant and thus have a more limited effect.

Civil challenges have been more successful, with judges invalidating gun regulations in 48 rulings, or 32 percent. While fewer in number, these lawsuits tend to be more sweeping challenges against a gun restriction in general, as applied to anyone, resulting in broader implications, including a law being entirely overturned.

The Bruen decision has increased partisanship in Second Amendment cases.

Judges appointed by Republican presidents and appellate court panels with Republican majorities heard 836 challenges. Democratic-appointed judges and panels with Democratic majorities heard 618.

Non-partisan magistrate judges heard the remaining 156 challenges.

Republican-appointed judges ruled against gun regulations 60 times, which amounts to 8 percent of the rulings they wrote. Democratic-appointed judges have invalidated gun regulations less often, in 37 cases, or 6 percent of the rulings they wrote.

The partisan divide is more evident in civil lawsuits.

Republican-appointed judges ruled against gun regulations in 40 out of 82 rulings, or 49 percent. Democratic-appointed judges have invalidated regulations in just 7 out of 60 rulings, or 12 percent.

This finding shows that instead of limiting judges' discretion, as some Supreme Court justices predicted, Bruen has given judges more leeway.

Circuit courts have ruled against gun regulations 14 times since June 2022.

District court judges have ruled against gun regulations 87 times.

The federal law banning people convicted of felonies from possessing firearms has been challenged more than any other gun restriction.

Each blue dot represents one challenge to the felon-in-possession law. Rulings on other gun restrictions are in gray.

Challenges to the felon-in-possession law make up the majority of the rulings in our data, 1,142 in total. Of those, 33 have been successful.

While that figure may seem small, it marks a stark departure from the past, when effectively no such challenges succeeded, and it shows that Bruen has cracked the longstanding consensus that people convicted of serious crimes may constitutionally be barred from gun ownership.

Courts have also weighed challenges to assault weapons bans; prohibitions on guns at parks, on public transit, and other sensitive places; bans on gun possession by drug users and suspected domestic abusers; licensing requirements for gun ownership; age restrictions; and other laws.

You can explore the data below.