WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal challenging Connecticut’s assault weapons ban, setting the stage for a potentially landmark Second Amendment ruling that could determine the future of similar laws nationwide. The Connecticut Mirror reports that the plaintiffs hope to strike down Connecticut’s restrictions, and the court’s 6-3 conservative majority has led many legal observers to speculate that it could continue its recent trend of expanding gun rights.
The plaintiffs, Connecticut gun owners and the National Association for Gun Rights, argue that Connecticut’s ban on magazines holding more than 10 rounds and AR-15-style rifles violates their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
In the lower courts, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that the ban is constitutional because similar restrictions have been upheld so long as they are not sweeping and still allow for self-defense. The court wrote, “The challenged Connecticut laws impose targeted restrictions on unusually dangerous weapons while preserving numerous legal alternatives for self-defense and other lawful purposes. Such restrictions impose a burden comparable to historical antecedents that regulated other unusually dangerous weapons unsuitable for and disproportionate to the objective of individual self-defense.”
The plaintiffs appealing the decision could prevail if the Supreme Court decides one of two things: that assault rifles do not qualify as unusually dangerous weapons and that banning them leaves no adequate alternative for self-defense, or that previous restrictions on unusually dangerous weapons were themselves unconstitutional and that the government should have no authority to limit the types of firearms civilians may acquire.
One of the most closely watched gun rights decisions issued by the current Supreme Court was New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen, in which the six-justice majority ruled that New York’s concealed carry law requiring applicants to demonstrate a “special need” to obtain a concealed carry license was unconstitutional.
The United States had a federal assault weapons ban in place from 1994 to 2004, but the changing political climate following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks contributed to Congress’ failure to renew the ban, according to NPR. Meanwhile, previous Supreme Courts have upheld restrictions on machine guns and other weapons of war, including the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Firearm Owners’ Protection Act of 1986, which the 2nd Circuit referenced in its decision.
The Connecticut law now under challenge has been in effect since 1993, but the state strengthened its gun regulations after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Connecticut argues that assault weapons closely resemble military weapons of war, which may be restricted, and that experts say assault weapons facilitate mass shootings.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said, “The gun lobby has flooded the courts in states across the country to get an assault weapons case up to this Supreme Court. We are prepared for this fight, and we are going to go in with everything we’ve got to keep these weapons of war off our streets, out of our schools, and away from our families.”
Abbey Clements, a survivor of the Sandy Hook shooting, said, “Far too many school shootings, including the tragedy that took place at Sandy Hook, are made more deadly by the easy availability of assault weapons. The simple fact is that we had fewer mass shootings and mass shootings were less deadly when we had a federal assault weapons ban in place.”
Gun regulation advocates cite studies suggesting that the availability of assault weapons increases the frequency of mass shootings, comparing data from the 1994 federal assault weapons ban with data from the years after the ban expired.
Gun regulation advocates also fear that a conservative ruling could dismantle similar laws in states and cities across the country, including New York and California. Clements warned, “With the Supreme Court opening the door to striking down more state bans, we know what the result will be — more mass shootings and more gun deaths.”
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