■ Supreme Court justices will decide on whether to consider an expansion of gun rights.

Advocates pursuing liberty to carry handguns outside home

WASHINGTON — A possible expansion of gun rights is on the Supreme Court’s agenda.

The justices are meeting in private Friday to discuss adding new cases to their docket for the fall. Among the prospects is an appeal from gun rights advocates that asks the court to declare a constitutional right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-protection.

Georgia is among 21 states with Republican attorneys general calling on the court to take up the case and expand the rights of gun owners.

The court’s consideration of gun rights comes as President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress are pushing restrictions, including expanded background checks, that appear unlikely to win approval.

The appeal comes from New York, which gun rights groups say is among eight states that make it difficult if not nearly impossible for people to get permits to carry guns in public. The other states are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is siding with a New Mexico woman who was shot by police as she drove away from them in a case that will allow more excessive-force lawsuits against police to go forward.

The justices ruled 5-3 on Thursday that Roxanne Torres’ lawsuit could continue because she had been “seized” by police when she was shot, though she fled.

“The question in this case is whether a seizure occurs when an officer shoots someone who temporarily eludes capture after the shooting. The answer is yes: The application of physical force to the body of a person with intent to restrain is a seizure, even if the force does not succeed in subduing the person,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in an 18-page opinion for himself, conservative Brett Kavanaugh and liberals Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

Justice Amy Coney Barrett had not yet joined the court when the case was heard on Oct. 14 and did not participate in the decision.