Taylor Swift Concerts Align Courts on Crowded Space Gun Bans

States are increasingly receiving federal courts’ blessing to restrict firearm access in public places that draw crowds, with the latest boost coming from a theory about protecting sold-out football stadiums full of concertgoers.

Appeals courts from the conservative Fifth Circuit to the liberal Ninth Circuit have upheld location-based firearms restrictions applying a history-focused test laid out by the US Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen.

The latest decision from the Third Circuit, issued Sept. 10, bolstered the theory that principles gleaned from 18th- and 19th-century laws regulating “sensitive places” provide foundation ...