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Attorney General McCuskey leads SCOTUS amicus brief challenging D.C.'s high-capacity magazine and assault weapons ban

CHARLESTON — West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey is leading a coalition of 26 attorneys general, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a challenge of Washington D.C.'s so-called high-capacity magazine and assault weapons ban. 

The brief challenges a lower court's decision that upheld D.C.'s ban on magazines which hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition. The law prohibits the possession, sale, or transfer of the magazines. D.C.'s law also prohibits D.C. residents from keeping and bearing semiautomatic weapons like AR-15 rifles. The coalition argues the lower courts “have continued to use whatever means necessary to uphold laws that have prevented most citizens in those jurisdictions from exercising the right to bear arms." 

“Until the Supreme Court weighs in, cities will continue passing these far-reaching bans on guns and ammo—knowing that certain lower courts will continue to push the agenda to limit our Second Amendment rights," Attorney General McCuskey said. “This must be stopped, and we are asking the Supreme Court to once and for all declare the legality of firearm magazines, protected under the Second Amendment." 

The coalition argues the ban is unconstitutional because the country has no history or tradition of banning arms in common use for lawful purposes. 

Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wyoming joined the West Virginia-led brief. 

Read the full amicus brief here. ​