Finally! SCOTUS Will Hear Two ‘Assault Weapon’ Ban Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court has finally agreed to hear the question gun owners have been waiting years to see answered: whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to possess modern semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15.
For Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the reaction was simple.
“Finally!”
The Court granted review in two major Second Amendment cases: Grant v. Higgins, a challenge to Connecticut’s ban, and Viramontes v. Cook County, a challenge to Cook County, Illinois’ ban on so-called “assault weapons.” The cases will be consolidated, putting one of the most important unresolved Second Amendment questions directly before the justices.
Supreme Court Takes the AR-15 Ban Question
That question is straightforward. Can the government ban rifles that are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans for lawful purposes, or are those rifles protected “arms” under the Constitution?
Gun owners have been watching the high court kick this can down the road time after time.
The case of Grant v. Higgins had been distributed for conference 17 times since January, with no action until now. The other case, known as Viramontes v. Cook County, had been distributed 22 times since last November. The history of these distributions has been tracked by the popular SCOTUSblog for months.
Two Major Rifle Ban Cases Will Be Heard Together
Grant v. Higgins is a SAF case out of Connecticut, originally known as Grant v. Lamont, was filed by SAF, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and three private citizens in September 2022, three months after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen which, according to the original complaint, “clarified the proper legal standard under which courts must analyze Second Amendment cases.”
Viramontes v. Cook County is a case challenging the ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Cook County, Illinois. SAF is joined in this case by the Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens, all Cook County residents. This case was originally filed in August 2021. At the time this case was filed, Gottlieb said in a statement to the media, “The guns on the ban list are commonly owned and used all over the country for all kinds of legitimate purposes including hunting, target shooting, competition, predator control and recreation. Citizens have a right to own such firearms, and to ban them is an affront to the Constitution.”
The history of both cases underscores the sluggishness of movement of Second Amendment cases through the federal courts.
SAF: “A Right Delayed Is a Right Denied”
Upon hearing that both cases have been granted high court review, the SAF team was elated. Gottlieb advised Ammoland News that the cases will be consolidated.
“We are very excited that SCOTUS will hear our two very important Second Amendment Foundation cases,” Gottlieb said. “These gun bans should have been overturned years ago. A right delayed is a right denied.”
SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut added in a statement to the press, “The Supreme Court’s decision to hear these pivotal cases will finally provide the courts the necessary guidance as it relates to the types of arms protected by the Second Amendment,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The modern semi-automatic rifles banned in Cook County, Connecticut and elsewhere are among the most commonly owned firearms in the country, placing them well within the scope of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard.”
Bill Sack, SAF’s senior director of Legal Operations, said via email, “The Second Amendment Foundation is thrilled the Supreme Court has just now agreed to take two of our Assault Weapons Ban challenges, Grant v. Higgins and Viramontes v. Cook County. Both of these cases provide the perfect vehicle for the Supreme Court to roundly reject the categorical bans on commonly owned firearms that Cook County, Illinois, Connecticut, and other gun-control happy jurisdictions around the country have adopted.”
Millions of Commonly Owned Rifles Are at Stake
Meanwhile, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, which estimates there are “over 32 million in circulation,” declared in a statement, “these challenges by the Supreme Court is long overdue.”
While it is never clear how the Supreme Court will decide any case, it is not likely the justices would agree to hear these cases if they simply intended to maintain the current status quo.
There was already a strong hint about how the national media may be covering the combined cases. NBC News reported Tuesday, “The measures in question ban what are described by gun violence protection advocates as “assault weapons,” which include AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles.
“AR-15-style weapons have been used in multiple high-profile mass shootings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, as well as the 2022 shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.”
The Supreme Court will convene for its fall session on the first Monday of October. Amy Howe, writing at SCOTUSblog, predicted oral arguments will be heard sometime in the fall.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.