When the Supreme Court first upheld individual gun rights in 2008, Justice Antonin Scalia said the Second Amendment protects firearms that are "in common use" but not "dangerous and unusual weapons."

Those comments shape the current debate.

Gun-rights advocates say semiautomatic rifles and handguns are in common use. They are among the most popular weapons in this country, they say, and may be used for self-defense and target shooting.

State legislators and gun-control advocates stress the danger posed by rapid-fire weapons that can shoot dozens of rounds. They describe AR-15-style guns as weapons of war and the weapon of choice in mass shootings.

In addition to California and Illinois, the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Washington also forbid most semiautomatic rifles.

In the past, both Thomas and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh have dissented from decisions upholding bans on assault weapons.

In upholding the Illinois law, 7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood said courts had historically made a distinction between military-style weapons like the M-16 rifle and guns that were for private use.

"These assault weapons and high-capacity magazines are much more like machine guns and military-grade weaponry than they are like the many different types of firearms that are used for individual self-defense," she wrote in an opinion joined by Judge Frank Easterbrook. "Indeed, the AR-15 is almost the same gun as the M-16 machine gun."

Separately, the 9th Circuit Court in San Francisco is weighing a Second Amendment challenge to California's ban on assault weapons.

_____

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.