AFPI Urges Supreme Court to Reject Arbitrary Firearm Feature Bans in Viramontes v. Cook County

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The America First Policy Institute (AFPI) filed an amicus brief today urging the U.S. Supreme Court to protect the Second Amendment rights of all law-abiding Americans. At issue is whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments guarantee the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles. The Court will hear arguments in Viramontes v. Cook County during its upcoming term which begins next month.

In its amicus brief, AFPI argues that so-called feature tests violate the Second Amendment by targeting ordinary design characteristics such as pistol grips, adjustable stocks, and barrel shrouds. Those features can improve a firearm’s safety, accuracy or ease of use, but they do not change its basic operation: One pull of the trigger fires one round.

“Cook County can attach whatever label they want to the most common rifles in America, but their label does not erase the protections inherent to the Second Amendment. The Bill of Rights does not grant the government latitude to turn ordinary design improvements into a constitutional off switch. As with any natural right, Americans should not lose their constitutional protections any time technology evolves,” said Knox Williams, Senior Fellow for Second Amendment Policy.

AFPI’s brief traces centuries of firearm innovation and explains that the Constitution protects modern arms just as the First Amendment protects modern communications. Because feature bans lack a historical analogue and reach firearms commonly possessed for lawful purposes, AFPI urges the Court to reverse the decision.