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8  NEW YORK STATE RIFLE & PISTOL ASSN., INC. v. BRUEN 

BREYER, J., dissenting 

when they interpret and apply the Second Amendment. 

Consider, for one thing, that different types  of firearms 
may pose different risks and serve different purposes.  The 
Court has previously observed that handguns, the type of 
firearm at issue here, “are the most popular weapon chosen
by Americans for self-defense in the home.”  District of Co-
lumbia v. Heller, 554 U. S. 570, 629 (2008).  But handguns
are also the most popular weapon chosen by perpetrators of
violent  crimes.  In  2018,  64.4%  of  firearm  homicides  and 
91.8% of nonfatal firearm assaults were committed with a 
handgun.  Dept. of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, G.
Kena  &  J.  Truman,  Trends  and  Patterns  in  Firearm  Vio-
lence, 1993–2018, pp. 5–6 (Apr. 2022).  Handguns are also
the most commonly stolen type of firearm—63% of burgla-
ries resulting in gun theft between 2005 and 2010 involved
the theft of at least one handgun.  Dept. of Justice, Bureau
of  Justice  Statistics,  L.  Langton,  Firearms  Stolen  During
Household  Burglaries  and  Other  Property  Crimes,  2005–
2010, p. 3 (Nov. 2012).

Or consider, for another thing, that the dangers and ben-
efits posed by firearms may differ between urban and rural 
areas.  See generally Brief for City of Chicago et al. as Amici 
Curiae (detailing particular concerns about gun violence in 
large  cities).  Firearm-related  homicides  and  assaults  are 
significantly more common in urban areas than rural ones.
For example, from 1999 to 2016, 89.8% of the 213,175 fire-
arm-related  homicides  in  the  United  States  occurred  in 
“metropolitan” areas.  M. Siegel et al., The Impact of State 
Firearm Laws on Homicide Rates in Suburban and Rural 
Areas  Compared  to  Large  Cities  in  the  United  States, 
1991–2016, 36 J. Rural Health 255 (2020); see also Brief for 
Partnership for New York City as Amicus Curiae 10; Kauf-
man 237 (finding higher rates of fatal assault injuries from
firearms in urban areas compared to rural areas); C. Bra-
nas, M. Nance, M. Elliott, T. Richmond, & C. Schwab, Ur-
ban-Rural  Shifts  in  Intentional  Firearm  Death:  Different