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7th Circuit Upholds Illinois
A federal appeals court upheld Illinois’ Protect Illinois Communities Act on Thursday in a 2-1 decision, overturning a lower-court ruling that had found the ban unconstitutional.
“Thursday’s 2-1 decision overturns a lower court ruling that found the law unconstitutional”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit said the law is “consistent with our regulatory tradition” and ruled that “Whether to adopt them is thus a decision reposed in our elected representatives, and we reverse,” while Chief Judge Michael Brennan dissented.
NPR Illinois said the case followed the July 4, 2022 mass shooting during an Independence Day parade in Chicago’s northern suburb of Highland Park, where the shooter killed seven people and injured dozens more using an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle and three 30-round magazines.
The ABC7 Chicago report said the appeals court ruled it was up to lawmakers if they want to ban AR-15s and high capacity magazines, after a 2024 southern Illinois judge had ruled the ban unconstitutional.
Pritzker, Raoul, and NSSF
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker praised the ruling in a Thursday post on X, calling it “a victory in the fight to end gun violence that helps keep our communities safe” from “assault weapons and high-capacity magazines capable of inflicting mass casualties.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul also celebrated the decision, saying “This is a win that enhances public safety in Illinois,” and that “We have seen the damage that assault weapons and large-capacity magazines can inflict, and these weapons of war have no place in our communities.”
The National Shooting Sports Foundation said it was displeased and planned to file a cert petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, and NPR Illinois said the appellate panel’s opinion is unlikely to be the last word.
Courthouse News reported that U.S. Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve wrote in the majority that “We hold that the act is consistent with the principles that underpin our regulatory tradition,” while Brennan dissented that the majority improperly applied Bruen’s historical tradition requirement.
Supreme Court and enforcement
The ruling comes as the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case examining similar laws in both Cook County and Connecticut, with NPR Illinois saying the Supreme Court “agreed to take up a case examining similar laws in both Cook County and Connecticut.”
“the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up a case examining similar laws in both Cook County and Connecticut”
ABC7 Chicago said the Supreme Court announced it would hear arguments over the constitutionality of Cook County’s ban on assault weapons, and it described the expected fall timing for the hearing.
Telemundo Chicago reported that the Supreme Court refused to halt a new Illinois law that would ban high-powered semi-automatic weapons like the one used in the mass shooting that killed seven people at a 2022 parade in a Chicago suburb, and said the law takes effect on January 1.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that Illinois’ prohibition on assault weapons caps the purchase of magazines at 10 rounds for long guns and 15 for handguns, and it said the Supreme Court likely will have the final say on whether Illinois’ ban ultimately survives.
