Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, left, speaks with Chief Justice John Roberts in January 2025 in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it will decide if states and cities can bar people from owning semiautomatic weapons, including AR-15-style rifles. File photo by Chip Somodevilla/UPI | License Photo
June 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday announced that it will decide if states and cities can bar people from owning semiautomatic weapons, including AR-15-style rifles.
The court had previously declined to hear this challenge in 2025 and other times previously, CNN reported. It includes an appeal from two Illinois residents who want to buy AR-15 rifles but cannot because of a county ordinance making it illegal to buy or possess some assault weapon types. The case will be combined with one involving Connecticut residents who challenged the state's ban on the weapons.
The high court's current 6-3 conservative majority often backs gun rights, NBC News reported. When the court declined to hear a similar case last year, conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in an opinion that the court "should and presumably will address the AR-15 issue soon," CNN reported. He said most states do not ban the weapons and those that do are "something of an outlier."
