Over 100 million affected

More than 100 million Americans live in places where weapons like the AR-15 are banned or heavily restricted.

Hard-won legislative victories

From California's first statewide ban in 1989 after a school shooting killed five children to Virginia's ban this year, these laws were hard-fought.

Supreme Court takes the case

The Court will hear Viramontes v. Cook County, a Second Amendment challenge to assault weapon bans in Connecticut and Illinois.

The ruling applies nationwide

Though the case concerns Connecticut and Cook County, the Supreme Court's decision will affect all 11 states with assault weapon bans.

A democracy argument in reverse

Challengers claim the decision is for "the people" to make, not courts. Yet they're asking judges to overrule what voters chose.

“The decision whether a type of arm is too dangerous for ordinary Americans to possess is one that the people are entitled to make”

Connecticut parents took action

After an AR-15-style weapon killed 6-year-olds, Connecticut citizens voted to expand their assault weapon law.

Silencing democratic voices

The challengers want the Court to tell parents who buried their children and fought for gun laws that their votes don't matter.

Federal judges mostly disagree

No assault weapon ban challenge succeeded in federal appeals courts until after the Supreme Court agreed to hear this case.

A warning about hubris

Conservative Judge Harvie Wilkinson warned against courts disabling representative government as lethal technologies advance at unprecedented pace.

“We shudder to imagine the hubris with which a court would disable representative government”