Highland Park Woman, Pro-Gun Group Sue To Overturn Assault Weapons Ban

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Highland Park's 9-year-old assault weapons ban faces a legal new challenge, as a resident this week filed suit seeking to have it declared unconstitutional in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's recent opinions about the Second Amendment.

Susan Karen Goldman, of Highland Park, and the National Association for Gun Rights, a Loveland, Colorado-based gun owners advocacy group, argue that the city's ban on certain semi-automatic and magazines that hold more than 10 rounds is an unconstitutional violation of their rights.

Goldman owns multiple assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, as defined by the city code, according to the 11-page complaint filed on her behalf Wednesday in federal court in Chicago.

"She has possessed this property lawfully for years but stores it outside of the city limits," it said, adding that Goldman wants to acquire additional assault weapons and be able to transfer them to others without having to leave the city to do so.

The Highland Park City Council defined and banned assault weapons and large-capacity magazines in June 2013.

The ban was later upheld by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals after local pediatrician and former Republican congressional candidate Arie Friedman challenged it.

In 2015, the Supreme Court allowed the ruling to stand, over the objections of Justices Clarence Thomas and the late Antonin Scalia.

Since then, four new justices have been appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and earlier this year Thomas wrote the lead opinion overturning New York's strict restrictions on concealed weapons permits.

That case — New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, also known as "Bruen" — is cited in Goldman's suit, along with four other lawsuits filed by the gun rights ownership group in what it describes as a "coordinated legal effort" to strike down bans on assault weapons and magazines with more than 10 rounds.

National Association for Gun Rights President Dudley Brown said his organization was targeting every circuit court where firearm bans have been upheld previously.

“We are simply asking for the courts to enforce the Supreme Court’s pro-gun Bruen ruling by re-evaluating and striking down each of these gun control laws under the new national standard which outlaws gun controls that are not consistent with the ‘text, history, tradition of the Second Amendment’ as required in the Bruen decision," Brown said in a statement.

The other suits were filed against the states of Connecticut, Hawaii and Massachusetts, as well as the city of Naperville over its decision earlier this year to restrict which firearms the town's two gun shops can sell.

Highland Park representatives said they would evaluate the merits of the complaint after they are formally served with copies. City attorney Steve Elrod said in a statement that city officials are confident that the 7th Circuit's 2015 decision in Friedman v. City of Highland Park "remains controlling precedent in our jurisdiction.”

About a dozen people have been cited for violations of Highland Park's municipal assault weapons ban, according to public records.

Following the July 4 mass shooting at the Highland Park Independence Day parade, in which authorities said more than 50 people were shot, seven fatally, by a single shooter armed with an AR-15-style weapon, the City Council and other local governments reiterated calls for statewide and national assault weapons bans.

Related: Highland Park City Council Demands State, Federal Assault Weapons Bans