The Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will decide whether cities and states may ban people from owning AR-15 rifles and similar semi-automatic weapons, taking up a major Second Amendment dispute that it had previously declined to address.
One of the appeals involving certain semi-automatic rifles came from two Illinois residents who want to purchase AR-15 style rifles but are blocked from doing so by an ordinance in Cook County that makes it unlawful to sell or possess any “assault weapon or large capacity magazine,” specifically listing dozens of models that were off limits.
Ten states have similar bans in place, according to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.
Another case came from several Connecticut residents who wish to purchase weapons covered under that state’s ban.
The Supreme Court has repeatedly declined to take up the issue but there have been signs in recent years that the court was prepared to reconsider that approach.
Last year, when the justices declined to hear arguments in a case involving Maryland’s ban on similar weapons, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote a short opinion asserting that “this court should and presumably will address the AR–15 issue soon.” In that opinion, he noted that most states do not ban the guns and described those that do as “something of an outlier.”
Gun rights groups are pointing to a unanimous decision in a separate matterlast year written by liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who described the AR-15 as “the most popular rifle in the country” and “widely legal and bought by many ordinary consumers.” The court’s precedents have held that weapons that are in “common use” for lawful purposes are protected by the Second Amendment, as opposed to those that are “dangerous” and “unusual.”
Appeals over AR-15 rifles are among several Second Amendment matters that have reached the court following its blockbuster 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which struck down a strict requirement in New York that residents show cause to obtain a carry permit. As part of that decision, a 6-3 conservative majority said that in order to survive Second Amendment challenges, modern-day gun regulations needed to have some grounding in the “nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
The gun rights groups challenging Cook County’s ordinance framed the AR-15 as both common and historic.
“From the founding of this country, the rifle has been a paradigmatic American arm, facilitating the struggle for independence from the British and serving as ‘the companion’ and ‘tutelary protector’ of the westward pioneers,” the groups told the Supreme Court in their appeal. “The AR-15 platform rifle is the modern descendant of the rifles that were borne by the militiamen of the Revolution and the pioneers who struck out West in search of a better life.”
Cook County, by contrast, opened its brief opposing the appeal with a list of mass shootings that involved what it described as “assault weapons,” and the number of people killed in those incidents. “2022 Highland Park parade, 7 dead; 2022 Buffalo supermarket, 10 dead,” it read. The list continued for more than three pages.
“Their inherent lethality makes them an alluring choice for mass murder, compared to less lethal weapons like knives or handguns,” the Cook County officials wrote. “At war, the ability to fire continuously without reloading translates to combat effectiveness.”
Cutberto Viramontes and Christopher Khaya, both Cook County residents, filed the lawsuit in 2021, alleging that the ordinance violated the Second Amendment. Viramontes wants to purchase an AR-15-style weapon for self-defense, according to court records. Khaya testified that he would be most likely to use one “at the range.” The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation were also part of the suit.
A federal district court sided with the county and the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
By CNN
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