Supreme Court will consider striking down assault weapons bans, in Connecticut and the Chicago-area
A Supreme Court that has expanded gun rights will consider whether bans on semiautomatic rifles, often called assault weapons, violate the Second Amendment.
The justices said Tuesday they will take up appeals asking the court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semiautomatic firearms in Connecticut and the Chicago area.
Similar laws are in place in about a dozen states, covering major cities like New York, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Congress allowed a national assault weapons ban to expire in 2004, but Democrats have supported renewing it in response to a series of mass shootings and states have continued to pass their own laws.
The Connecticut law was passed after a mass shooter used an AR-15 to kill 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012.
The cases are the latest high-profile disputes over guns to reach the court since its conservative majority handed down a landmark ruling in 2022 that expanded Second Amendment rights and spawned challenges to firearm laws around the country.
Arguments are expected to be heard in the fall.
Gun rights groups argue it’s a violation of the Second Amendment to ban semi-automatic rifles, which are legally owned by millions of Americans.
But supporters of the law say they’re also a preferred weapon of mass shooters, and they can be banned because they are similar to military-grade weapons.
The Illinois ban was first passed in 1993.
Four conservative justices on the nine-member court, enough to grant review of a case, had signaled that it was only a matter of time before the court took up the issue.
In other recent gun cases, the justices have upheld some gun restrictions, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns, but struck down others, like a ban on gun ownership by all marijuana users.
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