Analysis Finds Holes in Connecticut's Historical Case for AR-15 Ban

Connecticut's defense of its AR-15 ban leans heavily on centuries-old English weapons laws, but a new analysis from The Reload argues the state is badly misreading what those laws actually did.

Snapshot

With Grant v. Higgins consolidated with Viramontes v. Cook County and oral arguments set for December 2, 2026, Connecticut's brief cites medieval and early modern English restrictions on lancegays, crossbows, handguns, and guns generally to justify its modern rifle ban. The Reload's analysis contends that, examined closely, these historical laws regulated carrying rather than possession, targeted the poor rather than dangerous weapons, or were quickly repealed — meaning they don't support the comparison Connecticut is drawing.

Key points

• Lancegay laws: The Reload notes 1383 and 1396 statutes banned riding armed with a lancegay, not owning one — court records and wills show ordinary Englishmen lawfully possessed, bequeathed, and reclaimed the weapon in disputes.
• Crossbows and handguns: The 1542 act restricting these weapons applied only to those below a wealth threshold and was motivated by preserving longbow proficiency for national defense, not by concerns about the weapons' danger, according to the analysis.
• Short-lived bans: A 1613 proclamation banning small handguns was narrowed within three years to cover only making, selling, and carrying, with later language framing them as unsuited to military or defensive use rather than uniquely dangerous.
• Game Act confusion: The 1671 Game Act Connecticut cites briefly covered guns but was replaced in 1692, and 18th-century rulings in Rex v. Gardner and Wingfield v. Stratford & Osman confirmed guns kept for home defense weren't swept into hunting-related gun bans.

Quick take

The piece makes a straightforward argument: borrowing distant historical analogues only works if the analogy holds up, and The Reload says Connecticut's doesn't. Whether the Supreme Court agrees could shape how far states can stretch history to defend modern gun restrictions.

Read the full story: thereload.com