Mills v. New York City: Court Revives NYC Handgun-Limit Claims

If you live in New York City, or carry there on a city license, a federal appeals court just reopened the legal challenge to two of the city's current handgun rules. On Nov. 10, 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit revived parts of a Second Amendment lawsuit called Mills v. New York City.

The rules haven't changed yet. The court didn't strike anything down. It sent three claims back to the trial court for the next step of the analysis.

Who sued, and over what#

Three New York residents, Charles Mills, Craig Sotomayor and Braden Holliday, sued the city in 2022. They challenged several city handgun rules, including licensing fees, the one-gun carry limit, the one-handgun-per-90-days acquisition limit and a rule capping how many handguns could be listed on a carry license. In December 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the whole case.

What the Second Circuit decided#

The three-judge panel (Judges Raggi, Livingston and Park; opinion by Judge Raggi) split the case into pieces:

• Kept dismissed: the challenge to the city's handgun license and fingerprinting fees, which the court said is controlled by its earlier decision in Kwong v. Bloomberg, and challenges to the purchase-authorization, handgun-registration and dealer-reporting rules, which the plaintiffs didn't have standing to bring.
• Revived: claims against three rules.

1. The rule limiting a licensee to carrying one handgun at a time (38 R.C.N.Y. § 5-22(a)(7)).
2. The rule limiting a person to acquiring one handgun every 90 days (N.Y.C. Admin. Code § 10-302.1(a)–(b)).
3. A former rule that allowed no more than two handguns to be registered to a carry license (38 R.C.N.Y. § 5-25(d)(4)). The city repealed it in 2024. The trial court had dismissed the request to block it as moot, and the plaintiffs didn't appeal that part, so only one plaintiff's claim for damages over the rule came back.

Why that matters: the two steps of Bruen#

Under the Supreme Court's 2022 Bruen decision, courts ask two questions about a gun law. Step one: does the Second Amendment's plain text cover the conduct? If yes, step two: can the government show the rule fits the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation?

The trial court had stopped at step one, saying these rules didn't regulate protected conduct. The Second Circuit disagreed. It held that the one-gun carry limit and the former registration cap regulate conduct covered by the Second Amendment's plain text, and that the 90-day limit, though it regulates acquisition (conduct the court called "ancillary" to keeping and bearing arms), "meaningfully constrain[s]" the right enough to pass step one. It also rejected the idea that the Second Amendment protects "against only permanent or complete deprivations" of the right.

The court was careful about what that means: "This is not to conclude that the challenged rules are necessarily unconstitutional." (Slip op. at 4.) Now the city gets its chance to make the historical case at step two.

What happens next#

• The rules stay in effect for now. The one-gun carry limit and the 90-day acquisition limit still apply in New York City, and the two-gun registration cap was already repealed in 2024.
• Rehearing window: either side may ask the Second Circuit to rehear the case within 14 days after the Nov. 10 judgment was entered (around Nov. 24), unless the court changes that deadline.
• Back to the trial court: the case formally returns to the district court when the appeals court issues its mandate. That normally happens 7 days after the rehearing deadline passes (around Dec. 1, 2026) or, if someone files a timely rehearing petition, 7 days after the court denies it, unless the court shortens or extends that time.
• Later: a future ruling against the city could affect how many handguns New York City licensees may carry or acquire. That's not decided yet.

The takeaway#

This decides the first Bruen question, not the case. Until a court rules otherwise, the one-handgun carry limit and the one-handgun-per-90-days acquisition limit, including any exceptions written into them, still apply to New York City licensees. We'll update our New York gun laws page as the case moves.

This article explains a court decision for general education. It isn't legal advice. For your own situation, talk to a New York firearms attorney.