Pro-Gun Organization Petitions Supreme Court to Study 7th Circuit Decision on AR-15 Ban
Jose Nino
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The Illinois State Rifle Association announced that it will petition the Supreme Court to review the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision that ruled AR-15s are not subject to Second Amendment protections.
On November 3, 2023 the decision was issued by a three-judge panel of the appellate court, which ruled 2 to 1 against a preliminary injunction issued against Illinois’ “assault weapons” prohibition.
Per a Breitbart News report, the decision scrapped the preliminary injunction against the prohibition. The injunction was issued by US District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn.
The three judges were Frank Easterbook (appointed by Ronald Reagan), Diane P. Wood (appointed by Bill Clinton), and Michael P. Brennan (appointed by Donald Trump).
Wood and Easterbrook ruled in the majority while Brennan was the sole dissenter. Brennan wrote in his opinion that the Illinois “assault weapons” prohibition could not comply with the test that the Bruen Supreme Court decision (2022) established. He subsequently emphasized that AR-15s and the magazines they use fall under the protection of the US Constitution.
In his opinion, Brennan wrote: “Because the banned firearms and magazines warrant constitutional protection, and the government parties have failed to meet their burden to show that their bans are part of the history and tradition of firearms regulation, preliminary injunctions are justified against enforcement of the challenged laws.”
The Illinois State Rifle Association replied to the decision by clarifying their intent to petition the Supreme Court to review it.
The pro-gun organization said the following: “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. We will continue to stand up for the Second 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.”
Illinois is an incredibly anti-gun state. According to civilian disarmament group Everytown for Gun Safety, Illinois is ranked in 7th place for its gun control laws. Similarly, Illinois finds itself in an awful 39th place per Guns & Ammo magazine’s best states for gun owners rankings. Such an anti-gun profile is the product of anti-gun Democrats total control of the state legislature. This means that pro-gun activists will not have many options, legislatively speaking, to pass pro-gun measures.
As a result, they will have to turn to the courts to reverse gun control.
Sadly, that’s the reality many gun owners will have to face in blue states nationwide.
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