Assault Weapon Ban

The Supreme Court Agrees To Address the Constitutionality of 'Assault Weapon' Bans

The case could settle the long-simmering issue of whether the Second Amendment covers commonly owned but politically disfavored rifles.

Jacob Sullum | 7.1.2026 10:15 AM

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Last year, the Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Maryland's "assault weapon" ban, which covers some of the most popular rifles sold in the United States, including the AR-15. "Given that millions of Americans own AR–15s and that a significant majority of the States allow possession of those rifles," Justice Brett Kavanaugh said at the time, "petitioners have a strong argument that AR–15s are in 'common use' by law-abiding citizens and therefore are protected by the Second Amendment."

Although Kavanaugh nevertheless voted against granting that petition, he said "this Court should and presumably will address the AR–15 issue soon, in the next Term or two." His prediction came true on Tuesday, when the Court agreed to hear Viramontes v. Cook County, which involves a local ordinance similar to Maryland's law. The Court consolidated that case with Grant v. Higgins, a challenge to Connecticut's "assault weapon" ban, signaling that it will finally resolve the long-simmering question of whether laws that prohibit possession of widely owned but politically disfavored rifles are consistent with the Second Amendment.

A dozen states, most recently including Virginia, have enacted "assault weapon" bans, and so have several local governments. The law at issue in Viramontes, which Cook County, Illinois, enacted in 2006 and revised in 2013, is typical of the genre. It bans a long list of rifle models by name, including the AR-15, along with "copies or duplicates" of them. It also extends to all other semi-automatic rifles that accept detachable magazines and have any of five features: a pistol grip, a protruding grip that can be used by the non-trigger hand, a barrel shroud, a muzzle break or a muzzle compensator, or a folding, adjustable, or thumbhole stock.

With or without those features, a rifle fires the same ammunition at the same rate with the same muzzle velocity. Cook County, which includes Chicago, nevertheless has deemed them an intolerable threat to public safety, copying the illogic of similar laws going back to the ban that California enacted in 1989. Cook County's ordinance prohibits the manufacture, sale, transfer, or possession of the targeted guns. A resident caught with one faces up to six months in jail and a $10,000 fine, along with confiscation of the firearm.

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