NSSF®, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, is elated over the U.S. Supreme Court's decision today to hear petitions challenging state restrictions on the possession of Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs). Petitions challenging the constitutionality of these state-based restrictions have endured a tortuous legal path to the nation's highest court.
The challenges, Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins, will be heard by the Supreme Court in the next session. These petitions were relisted several times before the Supreme Court ultimately decided to grant cert. Viramontes and Grant challenge Cook County, Illinois and Connecticut's respective bans on MSR possession, the most-commonly sold centerfire rifle in America, of which there are over 32 million in circulation. NSSF believes that the Heller and Bruen precedents clearly hold that firearms in common use are protected by the Second Amendment.
NSSF contends that review of these challenges by the Supreme Court is long overdue. NSSF was frustrated with the Court's decision in June 2025 to deny cert in Snope v. Brown and the NSSF-funded Ocean State Tactical v. Rhode Island petitions challenging on Second Amendment grounds Maryland's MSR Ban and Rhode Island's ban on standard sized magazines, respectively. NSSF respectfully disagreed with Justice Brett Kavanaugh's statement then that the Court should wait a "Term or two" before taking action to stop the lower courts from misapplying the Court's holdings in Heller and Bruen, effectively denying the Second Amendment rights of millions of law-abiding Americans living in the states that have enacted laws banning MSRs and standard capacity magazines.
Rhode Island's ban on the sale of MSRs will take effect July 1, 2026, and Virginia has since enacted into law a similar ban, which is currently being challenged in courts, including one funded by NSSF.
NSSF continues to monitor the Duncan v. Bonta and Gator's Customs Guns, Inc. v. Washington petitions, which were held over by the Supreme Court. Both cases challenge state restrictions on standard capacity magazines. NSSF contends that magazines are arms, protected by the Second Amendment and states that ban standard capacity magazines are violating the civil rights of law-abiding citizens of those states.
About NSSF: NSSF is the trade association for the firearm industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearm retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen's organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.