by Emmitt Barry, Worthy News Washington D.C. Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Worthy News) – The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments Dec. 2 in a potentially landmark Second Amendment case that could determine whether state and local governments may prohibit Americans from possessing AR-15-style rifles and similar semiautomatic firearms.
The justices will consider two consolidated challenges — Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins — involving firearm bans in Cook County, Illinois, and Connecticut. The Court has framed the central question directly: whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess “AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles.”
Lower federal courts upheld the restrictions, but gun-rights advocates argue the rifles cannot constitutionally be banned because they are commonly possessed by law-abiding Americans for lawful purposes. Reuters reported that the ruling could have broad implications for similar laws elsewhere in the country.
Trump Administration Backs Gun Owners
The Trump administration has entered the case on the side of the challengers. In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, the Justice Department argued that the bans are unconstitutional, noting that millions of Americans own AR-15 rifles and that the weapons remain lawful under federal law and in 40 states. The government contends that Supreme Court precedents protect firearms that are “in common use” for lawful purposes.
Connecticut and Cook County, meanwhile, maintain that governments retain authority to restrict firearms they consider especially dangerous, pointing in part to their use in mass shootings and their military-style characteristics.
The Dec. 2 hearing could therefore become one of the most consequential Second Amendment arguments in years, potentially establishing a nationwide constitutional rule governing whether some of America’s most widely owned rifles can be outlawed.
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