After years of legal battles, the High Court will finally decide whether states can ban America’s most popular rifle
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a pair of landmark Second Amendment cases challenging state and local bans on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms, setting the stage for what could become the most significant gun rights ruling since Bruen.
The Court granted review in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, two consolidated cases challenging so-called “Assault Weapons” Bans in Illinois and Connecticut. The Justices will now determine whether governments may prohibit firearms that millions of law-abiding Americans own for lawful purposes such as self-defense, hunting, and recreational shooting.
The decision comes after years of conflicting lower court rulings that upheld firearm bans despite the Supreme Court’s 2022 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen decision, which directed courts to evaluate gun laws based on the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.
The National Association for Gun Rights and the National Foundation for Gun Rights have been at the forefront of that legal fight, filing multiple lawsuits across several states challenging bans on semi-automatic rifles and standard-capacity magazines. Their Connecticut case, National Association for Gun Rights v. Lamont, remains pending before the Supreme Court and was held for further consideration alongside the newly accepted cases.
According to NAGR President Dudley Brown, the Court’s decision represents the culmination of four years of litigation aimed at forcing the justices to resolve whether states can ban firearms that are unquestionably in common use by law-abiding Americans.
Further more, Brown exclaimed:
“We have to make sure the Justices rule the correct way — and our legal team is already strategizing on the amicus ‘friend of the court’ brief we will be filing to insist the Supreme Court end all gun bans, nationwide! Finally, when the ruling comes next year, we need to make sure every single blue state obeys it.”
The Supreme Court’s ruling, expected during its next term, could determine the future of so-called “Assault Weapons” Bans not only in Illinois and Connecticut, but also in states such as California, Massachusetts, Colorado, Hawaii, New York, and others with similar laws.
For millions of gun owners, the upcoming case represents the first time the nation’s highest court will directly address whether AR-15-style rifles and other commonly owned semi-automatic firearms are protected by the Second Amendment.
The decision is widely expected to become one of the most consequential Second Amendment rulings in modern American history.
Read more at NBC News.
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