SCI and SAF Urge Supreme Court to Extend Second Amendment to Commonly Used Hunting Firearms

According to Safari Club International, the organization and the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation submitted a friend-of-the-court brief urging the United States Supreme Court to recognize semi-automatic rifles that hunters routinely employ as arms covered by the Second Amendment. The document asks the justices to invalidate restrictions imposed by Cook County, Illinois, and by Connecticut that prevent hunters, sportsmen, and recreational shooters from using those rifles.

The two organizations point to more than one hundred years of hunter reliance on semi-automatic rifles, which they say remain popular for their precision, versatility, ease of transport, lower price, and fitness for taking game and managing wildlife. They present firearms as part of American hunting custom, as required gear for lawful harvest and wildlife work, and as a source of conservation dollars across the nation. The brief maintains that rifles in ordinary lawful use, hunting included, fall within Second Amendment protection and therefore cannot be forbidden.