Supreme Court to Hear Arguments on Semiautomatic Weapon Bans

The Supreme Court of the United States will hear arguments on December 2 regarding the legality of bans on AR-15s and semiautomatic weapons in the cases of Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins.

The legal dispute centers on the interpretation of the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision. Professor Rory Little argues that the Second Amendment only protects weapons that were in common use at the time of the amendment's adoption in 1791, which would exclude modern semiautomatic rifles. In contrast, law professor Jonathan Turley and the original Heller opinion authored by Justice Antonin Scalia maintain that constitutional rights extend to modern instruments that constitute bearable arms, regardless of whether they existed at the founding.

Parallel to these cases, the Firearm Industry Trade Association has filed a lawsuit in Connecticut challenging a ban on convertible handguns. This litigation is expected to raise similar constitutional questions regarding the scope of the Second Amendment.