WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 12, 2025) – Today, Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) announced the filing of its final brief in support of Supreme Court review in Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois, asking the Supreme Court of the United States to finally decide the constitutionality of so-called “assault weapon” bans.
The filing argues that the lower court’s decision upholding Cook County’s ban on commonly owned semiautomatic rifles such as the AR-15 is “based on an interpretation of the Second Amendment that flagrantly distorts this Court’s precedent and makes a mockery of the Amendment’s text, history, and purposes.” That, they say, is irreconcilable with the Supreme Court’s landmark Heller and Bruen decisions.
The brief explains that multiple federal courts have now split on how to apply Bruen’s text-informed-by-history framework, including whether “in common use” is a textual or historical inquiry and which side bears the burden of proof. It warns that “lower courts are in conflict” and cites Justice Thomas’s and Justice Kavanaugh’s recent calls for the Court to “address the AR-15 issue.”
The filing further argues that the semiautomatic arms banned by Cook County “are ‘in common use’ by any plausible measure,” noting that there are “well over 20 million of the banned arms in circulation” and that “the AR-15 … is ‘the most popular rifle in the country.’”
“It’s time for the Court to settle the AR-15 question once and for all,” said FPC President Brandon Combs. “The Seventh Circuit and others have twisted the text of the Constitution and the Supreme Court’s precedents beyond recognition. But the Constitution doesn’t let governments ban a class of arms simply because politicians or judges dislike them.”
Combs continued, “The AR-15 is the most popular rifle in the country. Millions of peaceable Americans own and use these arms every day for lawful purposes. The idea that they fall outside the Second Amendment’s protection is as lawless as it is absurd, so FPC is asking the Supreme Court to make that unmistakably clear, once and for all.”
The petition and other key case documents can be viewed at firearmspolicy.org/viramontes. FPC is joined in this litigation by two individual FPC members and the Second Amendment Foundation. Plaintiffs are represented by David H. Thompson, Peter A. Patterson, and William Bergstrom of Cooper & Kirk, PLLC. FPC thanks FPC Action Foundation for its strategic support of this FPC Law case.
About Firearms Policy Coalition
Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC)—a 501(c)(4) nonprofit membership organization—exists to create a world of maximal individual liberty, defend constitutional rights, and restore the freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution. FPC pursues these goals through strategic litigation, legal scholarship, amicus briefing, legislative and regulatory advocacy, grassroots activism, education, and outreach. FPC’s legal arm, FPC Law, is the nation’s leading initiative dedicated to restoring the right to keep and bear arms across the United States. To learn more about FPC’s lawsuits and pro–Second Amendment efforts, sign up for FPC news alerts at firearmspolicy.org and follow FPC on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
Read the full article here
