Parents of children killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School are asking the Supreme Court to keep in place the type of assault-style rifle ban they fought for after the massacre in 2012. In an emotional friend-of-the-court filing, the group Sandy Hook Promise backs Connecticut’s law on AR-15-style weapons and similar bans in roughly a dozen states, the Washington Post reports, arguing that such firearms are exceptionally lethal and fall within the court’s past allowance for regulating “unusually dangerous” weapons.
Gun rights groups, supported by the Trump administration, counter that AR-15-style rifles are central to modern gun ownership and protected by the Second Amendment. The justices will review bans in Connecticut and Chicago in a case that could further reshape gun regulation following the court’s 2022 Bruen ruling. Arguments are set for Dec. 3, with a decision expected by summer. “The Court’s decision will have profound consequences for how states can continue to protect all children,” said Mark Barden, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, in post on the group’s Facebook page. “We have a responsibility to value the safety of children as strongly as we value the right to bear arms.” His son, Daniel, was killed in the attack.