President Trump's Solicitor General has told the Supreme Court that Connecticut's and Cook County's bans on AR-15 rifles violate the Second Amendment, and both governments have until Wednesday to answer. The 40-page brief, filed September 4 by D. John Sauer, is the federal government's formal position in the AR-15 case the justices will hear December 2.

What did the Trump administration tell the justices?

The Justice Department's brief backs the gun owners who are challenging the bans in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins. Its argument starts with the plain meaning of the word "arms." Under Heller, it says, "all firearms constituted 'arms,'" so an AR-15 is covered. "The plain-text inquiry here is as simple as that," the brief says on page 9.

The second step is the "common use" test. Governments cannot ban arms that law-abiding Americans commonly own for lawful purposes, the brief argues, and the AR-15 is the "most popular rifle in the country," a phrase it borrows from a 2025 Supreme Court opinion. It cites estimates of at least 16 million AR-15 owners and at least 28 million AR-style rifles in circulation.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer signed the government's brief. Official portrait via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Is "dangerous" a good enough reason to ban a rifle?

The Second, Seventh and Fourth Circuits said yes, upholding bans because AR-15s are "military-grade" or "especially dangerous," according to the brief. Sauer's team answers that Heller already rejected that reasoning. D.C. argued handguns were too dangerous to allow, and the Court struck its ban anyway.

Then come the numbers. The brief cites FBI data showing 13,674 U.S. homicides in 2025, with 5,179 (about 38 percent) committed with handguns and 363 (about 3 percent) with rifles of any kind. It also quotes a line from Justice Kavanaugh's earlier D.C. Circuit dissent: banning rifles because people can still own handguns is "like saying books can be banned because people can always read newspapers."

A shooter fires an AR-15-style rifle at an outdoor range. Photo: Noah Wulf, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Do 40 states really allow AR-15s?

That is the brief's headline number, and the page behind it is worth reading closely. The sentence says AR-15s are lawful "in 40 States; only ten States and the District of Columbia have banned them." The footnote right under it cites statutes from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Virginia and Washington, plus D.C. That is eleven states.

Nothing in the brief explains the gap, and the argument does not depend on it, since the point is that a clear majority of states allow the rifle either way. But expect Cook County and Connecticut to look hard at every number the government put in front of the Court.

Official record

Brief for the United States as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioners, Viramontes v. Cook County, No. 25-238, and Grant v. Higgins, No. 25-566 (U.S. Supreme Court), filed September 4, 2026. Brief page 20 is shown below, with the 40-state sentence and footnote 2.

"They are lawful at the federal level and in 40 States; only ten States and the District of Columbia have banned them." - Brief for the United States, page 20

Read or download the full 40-page brief (PDF) · Supreme Court docket No. 25-238

What happens between now and December 2?

The Court's docket shows respondents' briefs due October 21 and argument set for Wednesday, December 2, with one hour total. Sauer asked on September 9 for ten of those minutes. The docket lists that motion as circulated to the justices and shows no ruling yet. AmmoLand reports the gun owners consented.

The docket also lists more than 40 amicus briefs filed in early September, including one from Sen. Ted Cruz and others and one from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which took neither side. The government's brief says the en banc Third Circuit sided with gun owners on a similar New Jersey ban, so the lower courts are already split.

If the justices adopt the common-use test the administration is asking for, the ruling would reach every state and city with a rifle ban like these two. If they reject it, millions of owners in those places stay one statute away from a felony for a rifle that is legal in most of the country. A decision would normally come before the term ends next summer.

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Header photo: U.S. Supreme Court Building, by Sunira Moses via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.