Second Amendment Roundup: Viramontes Is Not Moot

Cook County has argued that a challenge to its ban on certain semiautomatic rifles may be moot because one petitioner, Cutberto Viramontes, wants an AR-15-style rifle. The article argues this should not remove the case from the Supreme Court, since another petitioner wants an AK-47-style rifle and the County has previously grouped AK-47s under “AR-15 platform weapons”.

The case asks whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect the right to possess AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles. The County says the record does not show whether the other petitioner’s IMI Galil operates similarly to an AR-15, while the article points to the County’s own description of shared features, including detachable magazines and certain stocks or grips. It also notes that two association challengers remain and that a separate, similar Connecticut case, Grant v. Higgins, is consolidated with Viramontes and would be unaffected by the mootness argument.