Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Foes Promise Supreme Court Challenge

CHICAGO — Following last week's federal appellate court ruling leaving in place restrictions on certain semiautomatic firearms Illinois lawmaker passed in response to last year's Highland Park parade shooting, gun rights advocacy groups have vowed to take their challenge to the state's assault weapons ban to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The 2-1 ruling issued Friday by a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which limits the acquisition of assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines to certain groups and requires owners of such firearms to register them with state police before the end of the year.

The bill's sponsor, Deerfield Democrat State Rep. Bob Morgan, described the ruling as a major victory.

"As mass shootings in the U.S. are on a record pace in 2023, this law has already prevented the sales of thousands of assault weapons and high capacity magazines in Illinois, making our state safer," Morgan said. "We must renew our calls for a nationwide ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines in order to make mass shootings a thing of the past."

A spokesperson for the Illinois State Rifle Association said it was likely that the plaintiffs in one of the six lawsuits consolidated before the 7th Circuit would ask the Supreme Court to take up the case. In a statement, representatives of the gun owners advocacy group said it would work with its lawyers to petition the highest court.

“We are not surprised by the decision of the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. It has always been and is our intent to take our case to the U.S. Supreme Court where we believe we can get a favorable ruling for law-abiding gun owners in Illinois," ISRA officials said.

"We will continue to stand up for the 2nd amendment and Illinois law-abiding gun owners and against our anti-gun Governor Pritzker and General Assembly. We will be working with our attorneys to take our appeal to the United States Supreme Court,” the statement continued.

The ruling from the three-judge appellate panel found that the widespread ownership of assault-style guns like the AR-15 and similar rifles does not mean that it cannot be regulated under the law.

“Most of the AR-15s now in use were manufactured in the past two decades,” wrote Judge Diane Wood for the majority. “Thus, if we looked to numbers alone, the federal ban would have been constitutional before 2004 but unconstitutional thereafter.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the appellate panel had affirmed that the assault weapons ban was a common-sense law that will keep people safe and called on Congress to take the assault weapon nationwide.

"Despite constant attacks by the gun lobby that puts ideology over people's lives, here in Illinois we have stood up and said ‘no more' to weapons of war on our streets," Pritzker said in a statement. "This is a victory for the members of the General Assembly who stood alongside families, students and survivors who worked so hard to make this day a reality. Now Congress must act so Illinois is not an island surrounded by states with weak protections."

Back in May, Supreme Court justices rejected a request from a firearms owners advocacy group and a Naperville gun dealer to step in and issue an emergency injunction blocking state officials from enforcing the law.

And in August, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled 4-3 that the ban did not violate the equal protection clause of the state constitution.

A group that provided attorneys in the consolidated cases before the appellate court, The National Association for Gun Rights, also pledged to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court, Capitol News Illinois reported.

“Semi-auto bans like Illinois’ strike right at the heart of the Second Amendment and are completely inconsistent with multiple Supreme Court precedents,” association representatives said in a statement. “We will keep fighting and are preparing to appeal this outrageous ruling.”

Earlier: Assault Weapon Bans For Illinois, Naperville Upheld By Federal Judges