U.S. Supreme Court Taking Gun Ban Challenges to Conference

The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is taking lawsuits against the Illinois “assault weapons” ban and the ban in Maryland into conference.

The conference is scheduled for May 16, at which point justices will decide whether to grant cert for the cases–Harrel v. Raoul and Bianchi v. Frosh–placing them on the SCOTUS docket.

Parties in the cases include the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), the Firearm Policy Coalition, Field Traders LLC, the Illinois State Rifle Association, C4 Gun Store, Marengo Guns, and various private citizens.

Alan Gottlieb, SAF Founder and executive vice president, expressed optimism when the cases were scheduled for conference:

This could be the signal for which we have been waiting, that the Supreme Court may be ready to consider cases challenging bans on the most popular firearm in America today and their magazines. These firearms are owned by millions of peaceable citizens, and because they are in common use, they certainly qualify for Second Amendment protection.

The Center Square reported that plaintiffs in the cases scheduled for conference claim “states and lower courts are ignoring previous U.S. Supreme Court precedent set in 2022 that requires states and courts to reflect both the text of the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and founding era gun regulations when making and defending gun control laws.”

The precedent referenced by plaintiffs was established via Bruen (2022).

RELATED — AWR Hawkins Gives Big 2A Update: 470M Firearms in U.S. Civilians’ Hands

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On June 23, 2022, Breitbart News noted that Bruen both struck down New York’s proper cause requirement for concealed carry permit issuance and established a means of weighing 21st century gun controls to test whether they are in line with U.S. History and the intentions our founders.

On July 11, 2022, the Washington Times paraphrased Justice Clarence Thomas’s emphasis on the important of rulings like Bruen, McDonald v. Chicago (2010), and District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), saying, “The test courts must apply is whether a firearms restriction would have seemed reasonable to the founding generation that crafted and ratified the Second Amendment. If not, the law must give way to the Constitution.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, and a pro-staffer for Pulsar Night Vision. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Beef is his favorite vegetable. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.