Various U.S. Circuit Courts have ruled that the AR-15, often called “America’s rifle,” can be banned. Meanwhile, on July 17, 2026, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, struck down New Jersey’s long-standing ban on these popular semi-automatic “assault firearms” and magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds as unconstitutional.
This tees up this critical constitutional issue for the U.S. Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear cases challenging bans of these popular semi-automatic in the coming term.
To make sense of this issue, Joseph Greenlee, director of the Office of Litigation Counsel at the NRA Institute for Legislative Action, in this episode of The NRA Armed Citizen Podcast, breaks down the various rulings.
With roughly 24 million AR-type rifles now in civilian circulation, these semi-automatic rifles are among the most popular firearms in the United States. Nevertheless, various state and local governments now ban them.
Meanwhile, in a 10-5 ruling, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals—led by Judge Arianna Freeman, a Biden appointee and former public defender—held that these firearms are “in common use for lawful purposes,” such as for self-defense, sport, and hunting. Applying the Supreme Court’s framework from District of Columbia v. Heller (2008) and New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the majority found no sufficient historical tradition supporting such prohibitions.
Nevertheless, just days before the Third Circuit ruling, the Seventh Circuit upheld Illinois’ ban (including Cook County’s ordinance), while the First Circuit soon unanimously affirmed Massachusetts’ ban.
To resolve this issue, in late June, the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari in two consolidated cases—Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins—challenging bans in Illinois and Connecticut. Oral arguments are expected this fall, with a decision likely by mid-2027.
“I’m excited for the Supreme Court to resolve this issue,” says Greenlee. We have a rather straightforward and simple case—not to get too confident about it. But the whole ‘assault weapons’ ban—the NRA has been litigating this for years now and there have been a lot of different cases—so we’re excited for it to be resolved, especially because I’m expecting, hoping, for a good ruling on it.
“Supreme Court precedent, going back to Heller in 2008, says that arms in common use cannot be banned. And Heller dealt with the most popular firearm in the nation, handguns,” says Greenlee. “And now we’re dealing with the second most popular [long gun], so-called ‘assault weapons.’ I think this is just a straightforward case under Heller. I expect that the opinion will be most like the Third Circuit's opinion here, which struck down New Jersey’s ban on assault firearms, as they call them, and uh 10-plus round magazines. But an interesting difference between the Third Circuit and the other circuits that have upheld such bans. So, the Third Circuit just says, ‘Here's the issue. Here’s what the Supreme Court said. That’s the answer.’ Then it goes to the next issue. ‘Here’s the issue. Here’s what the Supreme Court said. Here’s the answer.’ Whereas other courts kind of twist and turn all around and kind of inject factors that the Supreme Court never considered into its test, like for example, whether it’s even an arm to begin with They consider is this well suited for self-defense or how many times is this actually used in self-defense situations? And all sorts of factors like that, which the Supreme Court has never said is something that needs to be considered. So, I’m optimistic.”
