The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to consider whether bans on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles violate the Second Amendment.
In a brief order, the high court agreed to take up a pair of cases challenging local and state laws banning AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles.
“One involves an ordinance in Cook County, Illinois, and the other centers on Connecticut’s law,” CBS News reports.
The high court will hear arguments in the cases in its next term, which begins in October.
🚨 The Supreme Court will decide whether the Second and 14th Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles. pic.twitter.com/WQrH6oSvoi
— SCOTUS Wire (@scotus_wire) June 30, 2026
CBS News shared further:
The measures in question ban what are described by gun violence protection advocates as “assault weapons,” which include AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles.
AR-15-style weapons have been used in multiple high-profile mass shootings, including the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, as well as the 2022 shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.
The Connecticut law was revised as a direct result of the Sandy Hook shooting.
When the court declined to hear a similar case last year, four conservative justices indicated they believed AR-15 bans are unlawful under the Constitution’s Second Amendment, which protects the right to bear arms. One of them, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, wrote separately to say that “in my view, this court should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon.”
The ruling could affect about a dozen states with similar laws, including major cities such as New York City and Los Angeles.
“The Supreme Court has GRANTED our cert petition in our lawsuit challenging Cook County, IL’s ‘assault weapon’ ban!” the Firearms Policy Coalition stated.
“The Supreme Court consolidated Viramontes with Grant v. Higgins, which is a lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s ‘assault weapon’ ban (but not its magazine ban),” it added.
The Supreme Court consolidated Viramontes with Grant v. Higgins, which is a lawsuit challenging Connecticut’s “assault weapon” ban (but not its magazine ban)
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 30, 2026
“With cert granted, the case should be briefed over the Summer, with oral arguments in Fall and an opinion by the end of June 2027,” it added.
With cert granted, the case should be briefed over the Summer, with oral arguments in Fall and an opinion by the end of June 2027.
— Firearms Policy Coalition (@gunpolicy) June 30, 2026
More from the Associated Press:
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. States have also continued to pass their own laws, including recent measures in Virginia and Rhode Island.
It is the latest high-profile dispute 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.
