Viramontes v. Cook County

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether the Second Amendment protects the right to possess semi-automatic rifles, like AR-15s. At stake is whether local governments can regulate such weapons in their jurisdictions.

Chicago, with support from Public Rights Project, filed an amicus brief asking the Court to uphold a lower court ruling that allowed a local ban on these firearms. The law seeks to keep the most lethal weapons off local streets, especially after two Chicago-area communities saw 33 shootings with assault rifles at public gatherings in a nine-month period. Two individuals and two gun rights advocacy groups are challenging the local law at the Supreme Court, arguing the weapons are “in common use” for legal purposes like self-defense.

Many cities have passed their own bans on assault rifles or are located in states that have adopted regulations. The coalition brief explains why the lower court’s decision should be upheld:

• Communities bear immense costs: Mass shootings have resulted in devastating loss of life, endangered the public and law enforcement officers, disrupted local economies, and created substantial fear, trauma, and health care costs.
• The weapons threaten public peace and order: Assault rifles are extraordinarily lethal and disproportionately misused in mass shootings and other violent crimes. In the past decade, AR-15-style rifles were used in the country’s deadliest mass shootings, including at the Pulse Nightclub and Sandy Hook Elementary School. Regulations are essential to protect the public from physical harm and ensure their freedom to safely participate in their communities.
• History supports regulation: The challenged laws fit a long tradition of regulating dangerous and military-style weaponry. Since the country’s founding, lawmakers have made choices to regulate weapons that endanger the public. Today’s lawmakers should have the same authority to make choices that address modern-day needs.

Mass shootings can happen in places people gather every day. The brief makes the case that local laws address a specific problem created by a specific class of weapons: misuse of assault rifles in deadly mass shootings and other violent crime. 

Read the amicus brief.