Court upholds Illinois weapon ban, noting military guns aren’t for everyone

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Illinois’ ban on a range of semi-automatic weapons is constitutional after all, striking down a challenge to the law, which passed earlier this year.

In its 2-1 decision, the court affirmed the constitutional right to bear arms but noted that “even the most important personal freedoms have their limits.” Judge Diane Wood wrote for the majority:

There is a long tradition, unchanged from the time when the Second Amendment was added to the Constitution, supporting a distinction between weapons and accessories designed for military or law-enforcement use and weapons designed for personal use. The legislation now before us respects and relies on that distinction.

The legislation was met with multiple lawsuits after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed it into law in January. A state court challenge was defeated in August.

Passed in the wake of last year’s deadly July 4 parade shooting in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, the law prohibits the purchase and possession of “assault weapons,” which include high-caliber rifles, guns that accommodate high-capacity magazines, and a number of other specific brands and types of gun. Authorities said the suspect in the shooting, who killed seven people and injured 36 others, had legally purchased his rifles, among other weapons.

Semi-automatic assault weapons are the second most commonly used firearms in mass shootings, according to The Violence Project, a nonprofit that tracks data on such events. The impact of bullets fired from an AR-15, the style of semi-automatic rifle often used by mass shooters, can quite literally render body parts unrecognizable, as The Washington Post has reported. These weapons have been used to carry out some of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history, including the Sandy Hook school shooting, the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and the Pulse nightclub shooting.

Local Illinois leaders have hailed the federal ruling.

“This ruling is a huge win for anyone committed to reducing gun violence,” Illinois state Rep. Bob Morgan said in a statement. “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.”