Sandy Hook families file briefs as Supreme Court weighs AR-15 bans

Families of victims from the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting filed amicus briefs on Wednesday to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain state and local bans on AR-15 style semiautomatic rifles. The filings occur ahead of oral arguments scheduled for Dec. 2 in two cases challenging firearm restrictions in Connecticut and the Chicago area.

The briefs describe the specific lethality of the weapons used in the 2012 attack. Relatives of five first-graders and one educator argue that the high body counts and severe injuries justify strict regulation. They describe the shooter, Adam Lanza, as an 11-year-old who used a Bushmaster AR-15 to fire more than 150 rounds in four minutes. The families state they want to prevent other American households from suffering similar losses.

Jennifer Hensel, whose daughter Avielle Richman was killed, is quoted in the filing describing the condition of her child's body. Hensel argues that a moral imperative exists to stop further bloodshed from assault-style weapons. She urges the court to fulfill its duty to protect residents of Connecticut. The briefs also detail the injuries to Dylan Hockley, who was shot five times. His mother, Nicole Hockley, co-founder of Sandy Hook Promise, stated that the weapon's impact on children's bodies is catastrophic.

Opponents of the bans, including the Second Amendment Foundation, argue that restricting semiautomatic rifles violates the Second Amendment. Konstadinos Moros, a plaintiff in the legal challenges, contends that school security measures are the primary solution to mass shootings rather than banning specific types of firearms. He notes that shooters exploit the vulnerability of targets in schools. The foundation asserts that millions of Americans legally own these rifles, which they claim are not inherently different from other firearms in terms of constitutional protection.

The Supreme Court agreed in June to hear the appeals after lower courts upheld both the Connecticut law passed in 2013 and the Cook County, Illinois, ordinance from 1993. The court's conservative majority has expanded gun rights since a 2022 ruling that required firearm laws to align with historical traditions. Similar restrictions are currently active in about a dozen states, including New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. Congress let a national ban expire in 2004, but state legislatures have continued to enact their own regulations, with recent measures passed in Virginia and Rhode Island.