Key facts
- The Supreme Court will review challenges to assault weapons bans in Connecticut and the Chicago area.
- Gun-rights advocates argue that popular rifles like the AR-15 are in common use.
- Federal appeals courts have previously upheld bans on assault weapons.
- The Supreme Court's recent rulings have expanded gun rights.
The Supreme Court announced it will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, commonly referred to as assault weapons, infringe upon Second Amendment rights. The justices will take up appeals challenging such bans in the Chicago area and Connecticut. These laws are mirrored in roughly a dozen states and major cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. A national assault weapons ban expired in 2004, but legislative efforts to renew it have continued in response to mass shootings, with states enacting their own legislation. Gun-rights advocates contend that AR-15-style rifles are now so common that they can hardly be considered “unusual,” with tens of millions such military-style rifles in America. In a ruling last year, the Supreme Court called the AR-15 the most popular type of rifle in the U.S. However, federal appeals courts have ruled that the government can ban assault weapons, with one judge stating these weapons are more like machineguns than firearms for individual self-defense. This case represents the latest significant gun-related dispute to reach the high court, following its 2022 ruling that expanded Second Amendment protections and prompted numerous legal challenges to firearm regulations nationwide. Earlier this month, the high court delivered two wins to Second Amendment advocates by ruling against the use of a federal law that makes it illegal for drug users to possess a firearm and striking down a Hawaii law that required gun owners to get affirmative consent from private businesses before carrying a concealed weapon onto their property. In related developments, the Supreme Court turned aside challenges to a Florida law banning the sale of guns to people under 21 and a federal law that bans sales of handguns to people under that age. The court is expected to hear arguments in the case during the fall term.