{"id":2622113,"date":"2026-07-01T10:39:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-will-decide-constitutionality-of-so-called-assault-weapons-bans\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:41:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T14:41:33","slug":"scotus-will-decide-constitutionality-of-so-called-assault-weapons-bans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/scotus-will-decide-constitutionality-of-so-called-assault-weapons-bans\/","title":{"rendered":"SCOTUS Will Decide On So-Called &#8216;Assault Weapons&#8217; Bans"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fscotus-will-decide-constitutionality-of-so-called-assault-weapons-bans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2622113&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Supreme Court is set to hear two significant cases in its October 2026 term that challenge state and local bans on \u201cassault weapons,\u201d including widely used semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15. These cases,Grant v. Higgins (Connecticut) and viramontes v. Cook County (Illinois), question whether such bans violate the Second and 14th Amendments, with plaintiffs arguing that the laws are overly broad and restrict commonly owned firearms protected by the Second Amendment. The cases address the vague term \u201cassault weapon,\u201d which critics say is a political label rather than a clear legal category,and emphasize that manny of these firearms are used for lawful purposes such as self-defense,recreational activities,and hunting.The Supreme Court\u2019s decision could establish a clearer legal definition of assault weapons and influence the constitutionality of broad firearm restrictions nationwide. This is part of ongoing debates intensified by calls from Democratic figures for federal bans on assault weapons, which are often misunderstood due to the lack of a precise definition. The Court&#8217;s acceptance of these cases marks a potential turning point in Second Amendment jurisprudence regarding firearm bans.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>On the heels of a big Second Amendment <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/06\/25\/scotus-rules-hawaiis-vampire-rule-restricting-concealed-carry-is-unconstitutional\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">victory<\/a> for gun owners in Hawaii, the U.S. Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/orders\/courtorders\/063026zor_3f14.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced <\/a>that it will hear two cases challenging state and local \u201cassault weapons\u201d bans later this year.<\/p>\n<p>The cases dispute laws in Illinois and Connecticut, questioning the constitutionality of banning \u201cAR-15 platform and similar semi-automatic rifles\u201d under the Second and 14th Amendments. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-566\/383954\/20251107165354155_25-%20Petition.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grant v. Higgins<\/a> <\/em>and <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-238\/370875\/20250827115014594_25-%20Petition.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Viramontes v. Cook County<\/a> <\/em>will be heard together in the Supreme Court\u2019s October 2026 term.<\/p>\n<p>Democrats like Kamala Harris have recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KamalaHarris\/posts\/it-is-time-to-renew-the-assault-weapons-ban\/906324294187342\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">called for<\/a> a federal ban on assault weapons, which she calls \u201cweapons of war\u201d that \u201chave no place on the streets of civil society.\u201d One of the major problems with that proposition is that Americans have no idea what Democrats mean by \u201cassault weapons.\u201d Even former President Biden\u2019s ATF Director Steve Dettelbach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/atf-director-refuses-define-assault-weapon-says-congress?msockid=23948415732268e20acc91df725c69ed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">would not offer a definition<\/a> to Congress, leading Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, to point out that \u201c[i]f we laid a weapon on the table, you could pretty much say, \u2018that falls in the category of assault weapon.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In its upcoming term, the Supreme Court may finally help outline a legal definition of assault weapons and judge on the constitutionality of broad firearm bans. <\/p>\n<p><em>Grant v. Higgins <\/em>challenges Connecticut\u2019s state-level ban on the sale, transfer, or possession of \u201cassault weapons,\u201d which they define as \u201c[a]ny selective-fire firearm capable of fully automatic, semi-automatic or burst fire at the option of the user.\u201d Grant is not challenging the ban on automatic or burst-fire weapons, but the ban on all <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-if-it-saves-one-life-why-doesnt-the-lefts-logic-apply-to-illegal-immigration\/\" title=\"\u2018What If It Saves One Life?\u2019 Why Doesn\u2019t The Left\u2019s Logic Apply To Illegal Immigration?\">semi-automatic weapons<\/a> that meet the state\u2019s criteria. Among the banned firearms are many commonly used rifles, like the AR-15, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/alec-baldwins-negligent-discharge-actor-may-face-involuntary-manslaughter-charges\/\" title=\"Alec Baldwin\u2019s Negligent Discharge \u2013 Actor May Face Involuntary Manslaughter Charges\">semi-automatic pistols<\/a> and shotguns. <\/p>\n<p><em>Viramontes v. Cook County <\/em>challenges a similarly broad ban on assault weapons in Cook County, Illinois. The law bans over 100 different rifles by name, including the \u201cmost popular long gun in the country,\u201d the AR-15 platform rifle, and any other <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bail-fund-praised-by-kamala-harris-has-twice-freed-the-same-rioter-he-was-just-charged-again\/\" title=\"Bail Fund Praised By Kamala Harris Has Twice Freed The Same Rioter. He Was Just Charged Again.\">semi-automatic rifle<\/a> that can fit a magazine capacity over ten rounds. <\/p>\n<p>Both laws were upheld in the lower courts, leading the plaintiffs to bring their cases to the Supreme Court as a vital Second Amendment issue. <\/p>\n<p>In their appeal, the plaintiffs argue that \u201cthe very term \u2018assault weapon\u2019 is a political slogan masquerading as a meaningful designation, designed to exploit \u2018the public\u2019s confusion over fully automatic machine guns versus semi-automatic\u2019 firearms.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because of this vagueness, they argue, \u201c\u2019assault weapons\u2019 laws restrict many perfectly ordinary and common firearms,\u201d which are \u201cfunctionally identical to every other semi-automatic firearm in the way they fire,\u201d and are \u201cexceedingly common and fully protected by the Second Amendment.\u201d They further argue that the 14th Amendment <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/wex\/incorporation_doctrine\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">incorporation doctrine<\/a> means that the individual states must recognize their citizens\u2019 Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.<\/p>\n<p>According to the appeal, Supreme Court <a href=\"https:\/\/supreme.justia.com\/cases\/federal\/us\/554\/570\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">precedent<\/a> holds that a firearm cannot be banned if it is \u201cin common use for lawful purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf the most popular rifle in the country is not in common use, it is hard to see what that phrase could possibly mean,\u201d the plaintiffs argue. <\/p>\n<p>According to a Washington Post\/Ipsos <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/nation\/interactive\/2023\/american-ar-15-gun-owners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">survey<\/a>, the most-common lawful use of these so-called \u201cassault weapons\u201d is for self-defense, and Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.breitbart.com\/2nd-amendment\/2026\/01\/15\/americans-own-over-32-million-guns-which-democrats-label-assault-weapons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reportedly<\/a> own over 32 million AR-15 platform firearms. There are <a href=\"https:\/\/concealednation.org\/2025\/03\/defensive-gun-uses-statistics-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">thousands<\/a> of defensive gun uses in the United States every day, along with heavy recreational and hunting use.<\/p>\n<p>The state of Connecticut argued in their response <a href=\"https:\/\/www.supremecourt.gov\/DocketPDF\/25\/25-566\/391415\/20260112133915006_25-566%20Brief.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">brief<\/a> that the United States has a \u201clongstanding tradition of restricting novel weapons that are particularly suited for criminal violence,\u201d and that there is \u201c\u201cno direct historical precedent for the contemporary, growing societal concern over and fear of mass shootings resulting in ten or more fatalities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As previously <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/06\/02\/scotus-rejects-second-amendment-challenges-to-maryland-ar-15-ban-rhode-island-magazine-cap\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reported<\/a> by The Federalist, this Supreme Court rejected cases challenging similar laws in Maryland and Rhode Island last year, with only three justices <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2026\/01\/27\/scotus-holds-the-key-to-stopping-virginia-democrats-gun-control-gambit-will-they-use-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">signaling<\/a> a willingness to hear the cases (Associate Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch). The \u201crule of four\u201d means that there must be at least four justices who agree to hear a case to bring it before the whole court, but now the justices have finally agreed to hear and decide on an assault weapons ban case.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Luke Miller is a contributor for The Federalist who is studying political economy and journalism at Hillsdale College.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supreme Court to review assault weapons ban cases in 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4303,"featured_media":2622114,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4bc05034-4282-4482-b8bb-f173675e4697.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546,33651],"tags":[32210,33907,32546,32209,32275],"class_list":["post-2622113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","category-the-western-journal","tag-firearms-regulation","tag-gun-laws","tag-legal-decision","tag-second-amendment","tag-supreme-court"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4bc05034-4282-4482-b8bb-f173675e4697.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4303"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2622113"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2622117,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2622113\/revisions\/2622117"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2622114"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2622113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2622113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2622113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}