2023-08-11 16:01:35
The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Democratic-backed ban on assault rifles and large-capacity magazines, enacted following a deadly shooting in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, in 2022, which left seven people dead and dozens injured.
The state High Court rejected by a 4 to 3 vote the arguments of a group of plaintiffs led by a Republican state senator, Dan Caulkins, that the ban violated the Illinois Constitution by not not applying the law in the same way to all citizens.
Justice Elizabeth Rochford, a Democrat, said the constitution’s equal protection and special legislation clauses do not prevent the state legislature from treating some citizens differently than others by exempting them from the law.
These exemptions apply to people who undergo firearms training while employed by law enforcement, military and private security services, as well as people who already possessed the prohibited weapons. before the ban comes into effect.
“The law attempts to balance public safety, the expertise of trained professionals, and the interests of grandfathered people,” Ms. Rochford wrote in an opinion joined by three of her fellow Democrats.
Justices Lisa Holder White and David Overstreet, both Republicans, and Mary Kay O’Brien, Democrat, disagreed.
The plaintiffs also argued that the law violated the right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. But Mr Rochford said the plaintiffs abandoned that argument by not raising it at the lower court.
The Second Amendment argument is at the heart of several federal lawsuits challenging the Protect Illinois Communities Act, signed into law in January by Democratic Illinois Governor Mr. JB Pritzker.
This law prohibits the sale and distribution of many types of high-powered semi-automatic “assault weapons”, including AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, as well as magazines with more than 10 rounds for firearms. shoulder and more than 15 cartridges for handguns.
Last year, the predominantly conservative United States Supreme Court struck down New York state limits on the carrying of concealed firearms, heralding a legal standard that might make it harder for lower courts to support new or existing gun regulations.
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