By: Friedrich Seiltgen
Copyright © 2023
Four weeks after the Chicago-based 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban enacted by the State of Illinois, as well as the city of Naperville, Illinois, a local gun store owner, Robert Bevis of Law Weapons and Supply and The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), petitioned the Supreme Court to block the ban.
The Protect Illinois Communities Act was signed into law in January by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker in response to a 2022 mass shooting at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens wounded.
The act banned the sale and distribution of semiautomatic “assault weapons,” including “America’s Rifle,” the AR-15. The law also banned magazines that carry more than ten rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns.
The National Association for Gun Rights and Bevis challenged Naperville’s city ordinance restricting the sale of certain so-called “assault rifles” and the Illinois state ban as a violation of the Second Amendment.
In 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense, striking down a New York state law in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen. That ruling also required gun restrictions to be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” in order to comply with the Second Amendment.
In their earlier decision, the 7th Circuit found, “Assault Rifles are much more like machine guns and military-grade weaponry than they are like the many different types of firearms that are used for individual self-defense.”
In her opinion, Judge Diane Wood basically ignored the Bruen ruling and said supporters of Illinois’ assault weapons ban “have a strong likelihood of success” in further litigation in light of the “tools of history and tradition to which the Supreme Court directed us” in the New York case and a similar challenge in the District of Columbia.
Justice Barrett has ordered a briefing on this case, indicating possible Supreme Court action.
The National Association for Gun Rights
The National Association for Gun Rights is the nation’s largest “no compromise” pro-gun organization, with 4.5 million members nationwide. The National Association for Gun Rights has led the charge to halt the radical anti-gun agenda nationwide.
For more information, go to www.nationalgunrights.org.
That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”
Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response.
His writing has appeared in RECOIL, www.floridajolt.com, The Counterterrorist Magazine, American Thinker, Soldier of Fortune, Homeland Security Today, Off Grid, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International.
Contact him at [email protected].