A federal judge struck down Illinois' ban on semiautomatic weapons, citing U.S. Supreme Court rulings that strictly interpret the Second Amendment right to keep and bear firearms. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul immediately appealed the ruling by U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, reports the Associated Press.
The Protect Illinois Communities Act, signed last year by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, took effect Jan. 1. It bans AR-15 rifles and similar guns, large-capacity magazines and an assortment of attachments, in response to the 2022 Independence Day shooting at a parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. “Sadly, there are those who seek to usher in a sort of post-Constitution era where the citizens’ individual rights are only as important as they are convenient to a ruling class,” McGlynn wrote. “The oft-quoted phrase that ‘no right is absolute’ does not mean that fundamental rights precariously subsist subject to the whims, caprice, or appetite of government officials or judges.”
Pritzker said he remained confident the law’s supporters would prevail. “Despite those who value weapons of war more than public safety, this law was enacted to and has protected Illinoisans from the constant fear of being gunned down in places where they ought to feel secure,” Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough said. The law, written by Democrats who hold supermajorities in the legislature, came six months after a gunman perched atop a building fired into the Highland Park parade with a weapon similar to an AR-15, killing seven people and injuring more than three dozen. Gun owners sued, and scores of county sheriffs refused to enforce what they considered an unconstitutional law. McGlynn, who was appointed by then-President Trump, drew on U.S. Supreme Court rulings from the past 15 years that have expanded interpretation of the Second Amendment’s guarantees. He rejected state officials’ argument that the law abided by constitutional tests because it addresses a new phenomenon — mass killings — and new technology — semiautomatic guns. Erich Pratt of Gun Owners of America, which represented one of the plaintiffs, said, “We the people deserve the right to decide how best to protect ourselves and our loved ones, not anti-gun tyrants."
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