California Attorney General , as part of a coalition of 19 attorneys general, filed an amicus brief Oct. 28 asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold laws in Connecticut and Cook County, Illinois, that restrict the sale, manufacture and possession of certain assault rifles, Bonta's office said.
The brief, filed in Viramontes v. County of Cook, urges the court to uphold appellate rulings that found the laws consistent with the Second Amendment and with the nation's historical tradition of regulating uniquely dangerous weapons.
The coalition argues that the AR-15 platform and similar semiautomatic rifles are uniquely dangerous because their features facilitate mass killing and are poorly suited to self-defense. It also asks the court to reject the challengers' argument that the Second Amendment bars restrictions on any weapon once it reaches some level of popularity, which the brief calls a dangerous, illogical and ahistorical outcome that would encourage manufacturers to flood communities with new weapons before legislatures could act, according to Bonta's office.
“Assault weapon laws restrict a small and uniquely dangerous category of weapons that have proven to be mass shooters’ weapon of choice for a reason,” Bonta said. He added that “three-quarters of mass shootings of 10 or more victims from 2012 to 2022 involved the use of an assault weapon.”
California enacted the nation's first state-level assault weapons restriction in 1989, signed by Republican Gov. George Deukmejian after a gunman with an AK-47-style rifle killed five children and wounded 30 other students and a teacher at Cleveland Elementary School in Stockton, the office said.
The office cited a 2026 report from the California Department of Justice's Office of Gun Violence Prevention that found California's mass shooting victimization rate for 2023 to 2025 was 38% below the average for the rest of the country. Ten other states and several cities generally restrict assault rifles, the office said.
The other attorneys general in the coalition represent Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.
State
Rob Bonta
Attorney General · Democrat
Named once in this story.
Portrait: Official portrait
Sources & methodology
This report was written from the primary materials below. Links open at the original publisher.
California Attorney GeneralSee something we should correct? Read our corrections policy.