Cook County State's Attorney ready to defend assault weapons ban before Supreme Court

After the United States Supreme Court announced it would take up a challenge to Cook County's assault weapons ban, State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke said she is ready to defend the law before the high court.

The court will take up a pair of cases challenging local and state laws outlawing AR-15s and other semiautomatic rifles as violations of the Second Amendment. The court will hear a case challenging Connecticut's ban on AR-15s, and will also hear a challenge to Cook County's 1996 ordinance which bans the sale, possession and transfer of all assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, defined as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds, in the county.

O'Neill Burke issued a statement following the court's announcement, writing, "We will not back down from defending Cook County's long-standing ban on assault weapons. These weapons of war are designed to inflict the maximum amount of carnage and destruction and have no place in our communities. Countless victims have already endured the devastating impact of gun violence. We will defend this lawful ordinance before this nation's highest court to continue protecting the people of Cook County."

Lower courts have upheld both laws. The State's Attorney's Office said they expect the case, Cutberto Viramontes v. Cook County, to be set for briefing this year, then argued at a later date.

Connecticut's ban was passed in the wake of the Sandy Hook Massacre in which 26 children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

The Supreme Court backed Second Amendment rights in two cases this term, striking down gun carry restrictions in Hawaii and a broad federal ban on gun ownership by marijuana users. They've previously upheld some restrictions, including a law barring people under domestic-violence restraining orders from having guns.