Supreme Court agrees to hear challenge to assault weapon bans

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to decide whether states and local governments can ban semiautomatic rifles like the AR-15, which are popular among gun enthusiasts but have also been used in high-profile mass shootings. The court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority that generally backs gun rights, will hear challenges to laws in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, which covers the Chicago area. The two combined cases will be argued and decided in the court’s next term, which starts in October. 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 school shooting in 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 Connecticut law was revised as a direct result of the Sandy Hook shooting. When the court declined to hear a similar case last year, four conservative justices indicated they believed AR-15 bans are unlawful under the Constitution’s Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms. One of them, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote separately to say that “in my view, this court should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon.” The court in a 2022 ruling expanded on the right to bear arms, ruling for the first time that the Second Amendment applies outside the home. The Chicago-area law was challenged by Cutberto Viramontes and Christopher Khaya, who live in Cook County and would like to own semiautomatic rifles. They are joined by two gun rights groups, the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation. The Second Amendment Foundation and the Connecticut Citizens Defense League both challenged the Connecticut measure, along with three individuals. Lower courts upheld both laws.