Stephen Gutowski’s July 29 op-ed, “Virginia’s ban on AR-style rifles looks like a misfire,” noted that the state’s ban on “assault firearms” appears to have caused a significant and presumably unintended spike in sales before it went into effect in July. He also said he expects the law to be invalidated within the year when the Supreme Court decides challenges to similar bans in Connecticut and Illinois. That expectation accurately reflects concerns that various justices have expressed about these laws, and their decision to finally take up the issue suggests those doubts run deep. I was one of the lawyers who conceived and litigated District of Columbia v. Heller, the 2008 case in which the Supreme Court first held that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun.

Policymakers in Virginia and elsewhere should understand that the justices are serious about not allowing the Second Amendment to be treated like a second-class right anymore. And though there is still substantial room for reasonable regulations, they must be broadly consistent with the nation’s historic tradition of private gun ownership and armed self-defense.