The Supreme Court is preparing to decide whether governments may ban AR-15-style rifles. Here is every amicus brief filed in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, including the arguments supporting gun owners and two supposedly neutral briefs that advance anti-gun positions.
The Lee-Metford’s service life was comparatively brief, but its fast bolt action, detachable magazine, and .303 British chambering established the foundation for the Lee-Enfield rifle family.
Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico said he would “absolutely” vote for “assault weapon” and magazine bans, contradicting his campaign’s claim that he would protect the Second Amendment.
The Trump Justice Department wants ten minutes before the Supreme Court to argue that Cook County and Connecticut cannot ban commonly owned AR-15 rifles.
William English estimates that Americans own 461 million firearms. A separate calculation using more than a century of federal production records produces nearly identical handgun, rifle, and shotgun ratios.
The U.S. Supreme Court has scheduled oral arguments in the consolidated cases of Viramontes v. Cook County (Illinois) and Grant v. Higgins (Connecticut) for Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 10 a.m.
Twenty-seven states are urging the Supreme Court to strike down Illinois’ and Connecticut’s AR-15 bans, arguing that commonly owned rifles cannot be prohibited under the Second Amendment.
A new national survey estimates that Americans own approximately 60 million AR-15-type and similarly styled rifles. The findings are now being used to challenge Cook County’s and Connecticut’s rifle bans before the Supreme Court.