Cook County's Assault Weapons Ban Faces a Supreme Court Test on December 2
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments December 2 in Viramontes v. Cook County, a challenge to the county's ban on AR-15-style rifles first enacted in 1993 and later named for Blair Holt, a Chicago student killed on a city bus. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has joined 18 other attorneys general backing the county.
A legal fight over Cook County's assault weapons ban reaches the U.S. Supreme Court next month. The justices are scheduled to hear arguments on December 2 in Viramontes v. Cook County, consolidated with Grant v. Higgins, a challenge to Connecticut's restrictions. The question before the court is whether the Constitution guarantees the right to possess AR-15-platform rifles and similar semiautomatic firearms, according to court records.
Cook County has regulated assault weapons since 1993 and strengthened its ordinance in 2006 with the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban, named after the 16-year-old son of a Chicago police officer and a Chicago firefighter who was killed aboard a city bus after school while protecting a friend. The county's Supreme Court brief, filed under Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke as counsel of record, argues that the ordinance fits within the nation's tradition of regulating unusually dangerous weapons and that AR-15s are not in common use for any purpose that would shield them from regulation.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced on October 29 that he had joined a coalition of attorneys general supporting the county and Connecticut. "States and local governments must be able to protect their residents by restricting access to assault weapons," Raoul said in his office's release. The coalition includes the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
The challengers - Cook County residents joined by the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation - argue that the rifles are commonly owned for lawful purposes and are therefore protected, drawing on the Supreme Court's 2008 Heller decision and its 2022 Bruen decision, which requires governments defending firearm restrictions to show consistency with the nation's historical tradition of gun regulation. The United States filed a brief in support of the challengers in September. The challenged restrictions remain in effect, and a decision is expected before the court's term ends in the summer of 2027.
