The predominantly conservative US Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to consider appeals against bans on assault rifles at its next annual session.
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The Court, which is generally cautious about the protection of the Second Amendment of the Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms, will look into the appeals presented by firearms enthusiasts.
They are contesting a law in the state of Connecticut (northeast), scene in 2012 of the massacre of 20 children and six adults in the Sandy Hook elementary school, and a regulation in Cook County, which notably covers the city of Chicago (north).
The authorities there have banned the possession of certain AR-15 type semi-automatic rifles due to their dangerousness.
The Court will have to during its annual session which opens in October determine whether such prohibitions, validated by the lower courts, are compatible with the Second Amendment.
This will be a new opportunity for the Court to clarify its case law of June 2022 proclaiming the right of citizens to carry a weapon outside their home, subject to “reasonable” exceptions to the Second Amendment, particularly in “sensitive places”.
It is up to the courts to determine the conformity of these restrictions with precedents in the “history and traditions of the United States” between the end of the 18th century and that of the 19th century.
This decision having created numerous difficulties of interpretation and application by the lower courts, the Court appeared in June 2024 to want to clarify it. She thus authorized the disarmament of people representing “a credible threat to the physical safety of others”, in a decision concerning a perpetrator of domestic violence.
