The Supreme Court announced Tuesday it will decide whether state bans on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles violate the constitutional right to bear arms, setting up a landmark case affecting millions of gun owners across the nation. The justices will hear appeals challenging prohibitions in Connecticut and the Chicago area, with arguments expected this fall.
About a dozen states have enacted such restrictions, covering major metropolitan areas including New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress let a national assault weapons ban expire in 2004, and Democrats have repeatedly pushed to revive it following mass shootings. States have continued passing their own measures, with Virginia and Rhode Island enacting recent bans.
Constitutional Standard at Stake
The case arrives as a Supreme Court that's expanded gun rights confronts another high-profile firearms dispute. In 2022, the court handed down a landmark ruling that broadened Second Amendment protections and triggered challenges to firearm laws nationwide. This term alone, the court backed gun rights in two cases, striking down carry restrictions in Hawaii and a federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. It's previously upheld some limits, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from possessing firearms.
Gun rights advocates argue that banning semiautomatic rifles owned by millions of Americans can't be squared with constitutional protections. Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, said, "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."
Challengers wrote that "if the Second Amendment does not protect the most popular rifles in the country, it is hard to see how it protects any firearms at all," aside from handguns kept in the home.
State Defenses and Public Safety Claims
Connecticut passed its law after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, marking the 14th anniversary this year. The state contends these guns are a preferred weapon of mass shooters and can be banned because they're similar to military-grade weapons. Janet Carter, managing director of Second Amendment litigation at the gun-control group Everytown Law, said, "These laws are critical public safety measures, and they are consistent with the Second Amendment."
The Cook County, Illinois, ban dates back to 1993, now in its 33rd year. Lower courts have upheld both laws. Attorneys for Cook County argued the measure passes constitutional muster. "The trauma that assault weapon massacres have inflicted on the public at large has been staggering," they wrote.
Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled it was only a matter of time before the court addressed the issue.
The court also declined Tuesday to hear cases over restrictions on guns for young adults under age 21, an issue that's sharply divided lower courts in recent years.
Why This Matters:
The Supreme Court's decision will determine whether states can ban firearms owned by millions of law-abiding Americans or whether the Second Amendment's protections extend beyond handguns. The outcome affects enforcement in a dozen states and could either validate or dismantle a patchwork of restrictions that treat popular rifles as contraband. For gun owners, the case tests whether constitutional rights can be limited based on a firearm's appearance or features rather than how it's actually used. For states, it's a question of whether local governments retain authority to define public safety measures or whether federal constitutional protections override such determinations. The ruling will likely reshape the national debate over firearms policy and establish clearer boundaries for what regulations can survive constitutional scrutiny in an era of expanded gun rights.