By Dave Workman
The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear two combined cases this fall which could become the gun rights battle of the decade, and finally determine whether modern semiautomatic rifles including the AR-15 and its clones are protected by the Second Amendment.
Both cases were brought by the Second Amendment Foundation, which has become a leading legal powerhouse in gun rights litigation since its 2010 high court victory in McDonald v. City of Chicago. That ruling nullified the 30-year handgun ban in Chicago, and also incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the 14th Amendment. It also established SAF’s spearpoint position on the legal battlefield. The organization has more than 50 cases currently in progress around the country.
The cases granted certiorari by the Court on Tuesday are:
Viramontes v. Cook County , which challenges the ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Cook County, Illinois. SAF filed this case in August 2021 and is joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and three private citizens, all Cook County residents.
Grant v. Higgins challenges the ban on so-called “assault weapons” in Connecticut. Originally known as Grant v. Lamont, this case was filed in September 2022 by SAF, the Connecticut Citizens Defense League and three private citizens.
SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb, who has fought one legal battle after another over the past half-century, looked at the Court’s announcement as bringing the country one major step closer to restoring the full measure of the Second Amendment. While a ruling on these consolidated cases probably will not come until June 2027, he recognizes the importance of Tuesday’s announcement.
“We are very excited that SCOTUS will hear our two very important Second Amendment Foundation cases,” he said via text message. “These gun bans should have been overturned years ago. A right delayed is a right denied.”
Gottlieb is also chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, a grassroots organization which has also been involved in this gun rights battle.
In a statement to the media announcing the Court’s decision to hear the cases, SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut observed, “The Supreme Court’s decision to hear these pivotal cases will finally provide the courts the necessary guidance as it relates to the types of arms protected by the Second Amendment,” said SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The modern semi-automatic rifles banned in Cook County, Connecticut and elsewhere are among the most commonly owned firearms in the country, placing them well within the scope of the Second Amendment. The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it’s hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn’t meet that standard.”
And Bill Sack, SAF’s senior director of Legal Operations, said via email, “The Second Amendment Foundation is thrilled the Supreme Court has just now agreed to take two of our Assault Weapons Ban challenges, Grant v. Higgins and Viramontes v. Cook County. Both of these cases provide the perfect vehicle for the Supreme Court to roundly reject the categorical bans on commonly owned firearms that Cook County, Illinois, Connecticut, and other gun-control happy jurisdictions around the country have adopted.”
While winning Second Amendment protection for semi-auto rifles and pistols is of critical importance to the gun rights community, there will remain the question of national concealed carry, waiting periods and so-called “permits-to-purchase” which also involve infringements on the right to keep and bear arms. Twenty-nine states now have “Constitutional carry” laws which do not require licenses or permits to carry firearms for personal protection, and dozens of states have reciprocity agreements to recognize out-of-state carry permits/licenses.
Waiting periods, whether they last three or ten days, are seen as major impairments to exercising the right to bear arms.
But Tuesday’s long-awaited Supreme Court announcement has gun rights activists energized.
Workman is editor-in-chief at TheGunMag.com
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