Gun owners in Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth, Glencoe, and Northfield could legally purchase AR-15 rifles for the first time in more than three decades if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down Cook County's assault weapons ban. The court announced Tuesday, June 30, that it will hear the case.
The ban, first adopted in 1993 and named for Blair Holt, a Chicago high school student killed in a 2007 shooting while shielding a classmate, prohibits residents from owning, buying, or transferring 125 types of semiautomatic rifles and magazines holding more than 10 rounds. It applies to every municipality in Cook County that does not have its own ordinance on the books. None of the five North Shore villages do.
Violations carry fines of $5,000 for a first offense, $10,000 for a second, and up to six months in jail.
The case
Two Cook County residents, Cutberto Viramontes and Christopher Khaya, filed the challenge in 2021 with backing from the Second Amendment Foundation and other gun-rights organizations. After U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer upheld the ban and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, the Supreme Court granted review on the last day of its 2025-2026 term.
The court's fall term begins in October. A decision would follow by late June 2027.
"The Second Amendment protects arms in common use for lawful purposes, and it's hard to argue that a type of rifle that potentially outnumbers Ford F-150 trucks in America doesn't meet that standard," Adam Kraut, executive director of the Second Amendment Foundation, told the Associated Press.
Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said her office will defend the ordinance before the nation's highest court. Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said the ban has reflected a "simple principle" for more than three decades.
What's at stake beyond Cook County
A ruling against the ban would not stop at the county line. David Sigale, an attorney for the Illinois State Rifle Association, told the Chicago Tribune that a Supreme Court decision favoring the plaintiffs would have "an enormous impact" on Illinois' statewide Protect Illinois Communities Act, which has banned many of the same weapons since January 2023.
University of Chicago law professor Darrell Miller cautioned that the outcome is uncertain, noting he is unsure where Justice Amy Coney Barrett or Chief Justice John Roberts would land.
The court is also hearing a parallel challenge to Connecticut's assault weapons ban. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have similar restrictions.
Cook County Commissioner Scott Britton, a Democrat whose District 14 covers all of New Trier and Northfield townships, did not respond to a request for comment on the court's decision.
