Viramontes v. Cook County, Illinois

Cook County, Illinois, enacted a law banning the possession, sale, and transfer of what it labels assault weapons. The ban covers more than 100 specifically named semiautomatic rifles, including AR-15 and AK-47 platform rifles, as well as any semiautomatic rifle that can accept a magazine holding more than ten rounds of ammunition and has at least one of several listed physical features, such as a folding stock, a pistol grip, or a barrel shroud. Anyone who possesses a banned rifle faces criminal penalties including up to six months in jail and a minimum $5,000 fine for a first offense. The AR-15 rifle has been sold to civilians since the 1960s and remains legal in the vast majority of states.

Cutberto Viramontes and Christopher Khaya are Cook County residents who want to acquire semiautomatic rifles covered by the ban—Viramontes wants an AR-15-style rifle for self-defense, and Khaya wants an IMI Galil semiautomatic rifle. Because the law bars them from doing so, they joined with two gun-rights organizations, Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc. and Second Amendment Foundation, and sued Cook County, arguing that the ban violates the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.

Viramontes and Khaya filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in August 2021. After the district court granted summary judgment to Cook County in March 2024, petitioners appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed in a summary order in June 2025. The Supreme Court then granted certiorari and consolidated this case with a related case for one hour of oral argument.