Supreme Court Will Review AR-15 Bans in Major Second Amendment Case
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a major Second Amendment challenge to assault-weapons bans in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, setting up a decision that could affect firearm restrictions across the country.
The justices granted review in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, consolidated the cases, and set one hour for oral argument, according to the Court’s June 30 order. The central question is whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.
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Gun-rights advocates argue the rifles are commonly owned and constitutionally protected. Gun-control advocates argue the laws are public-safety measures aimed at weapons used in mass shootings.
The Court has not ruled on the bans yet. But by taking the cases, it has placed one of the country’s most contested gun-policy questions on its next-term docket.
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