Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) is leading more than 60 House Republicans in an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to strike down bans on the AR-15 and similar semi-automatic rifles as unconstitutional.
The brief supports the plaintiffs in two consolidated cases the Court agreed to hear: Grant v. Higgins, which asks whether AR-15 ownership is protected under the Second and Fourteenth Amendments, and Viramontes v. Cook County, which challenges Cook County’s ban on so-called “assault weapons.” Both cases reach the Supreme Court after lower courts upheld the bans.
Clyde and his House colleagues are urging the justices to reverse those lower-court rulings and declare the bans unconstitutional.
“Much to gun-grabbing Democrats’ dismay, the Second Amendment is abundantly clear. ‘Shall not be infringed’ is not a suggestion, regardless of the firearm in question. Semi-automatic rifles, including AR-15s, are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans, as it is well within our constitutional rights to do so,” Clyde told Breitbart News.
“As an unapologetic voice in the fight to protect and restore our Second Amendment liberties, I’m proud to lead this amicus effort, and I’m confident the Supreme Court will declare these bans … what they are: blatantly unconstitutional.”
The brief leans heavily on the Supreme Court’s rulings in United States v. Miller (1939) and District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), while also invoking the Federalist Papers, the Militia Act of 1792, the Militia Act of 1903, George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, and commentaries by William Blackstone.
The filing argues that the Second Amendment “protects, at minimum, arms that are in common use for lawful purposes and that bear a reasonable relationship to the citizen-militia tradition the clause celebrates,” and states that “military small arms that meet the common-use test, of which the AR-15 is a quintessential example, must therefore sit near the heart of the right, not outside it.”
The American Center for Law & Justice has joined the more than 60 House Republicans on the brief.
Who signed on
The list of participating House members includes Jodey Arrington (TX-19), Brian Babin (TX-36), James R. Baird (IN-04), Nicholas J. Begich III (AK), Sheri Biggs (SC-03), Lauren Boebert (CO-04), Josh Brecheen (OK-02), Tim Burchett (TN-02), Eric Burlison (MO-07), Ben Cline (VA-06), Michael Cloud (TX-27), Mike Collins (GA-10), Eli Crane (AZ-02), Warren Davidson (OH-08), Scott DesJarlais (TN-04), Troy Downing (MT-02), Chuck Edwards (NC-11), Julie Fedorchak (ND), Randy Fine (FL-06), Charles J. “Chuck” Fleischmann (TN-03), Russell Fry (SC-07), Russ Fulcher (ID-01), Brandon Gill (TX-26), Paul A. Gosar (AZ-09), H. Morgan Griffith (VA-09), Michael Guest (MS-03), Pat Harrigan (NC-10), Andy Harris (MD-01), Mark Harris (NC-08), Diana Harshbarger (TN-01), Kevin Hern (OK-01), Clay Higgins (LA-03), Erin Houchin (IN-09), Wesley P. Hunt (TX-38), Brian Jack (GA-03), Anna Paulina Luna (FL-13), Nancy Mace (SC-01), Tracey Mann (KS-01), Thomas Massie (KY-04), Tom McClintock (CA-05), Rich McCormick (GA-07), Addison McDowell (NC-06), John McGuire (VA-05), Mary E. Miller (IL-15), Barry Moore (AL-01), Riley M. Moore (WV-02), Dan Newhouse (WA-04), Ralph Norman (SC-05), Bob Onder (MO-03), Scott Perry (PA-10), Guy Reschenthaler (PA-14), John Rose (TN-06), Chip Roy (TX-21), Michael A. Rulli (OH-06), John H. Rutherford (FL-05), Keith Self (TX-03), Jefferson Shreve (IN-06), Adrian Smith (NE-03), David J. Taylor (OH-02), Claudia Tenney (NY-24), Beth Van Duyne (TX-24), and Derrick Van Orden (WI-03).
