“Whether well-intentioned, brilliant, or arrogant, no state may enact a law that denies its citizens rights that the Constitution guarantees them,” …. “Even legislation that may enjoy the support of a majority of its citizens must fail if it violates the constitutional rights of fellow citizens.”
Illinois can not ban the sale of AR-15s and other popular firearms.
That’s the ruling U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn handed down on Friday. He found the state’s “assault weapons” ban and ammunition magazine capacity limits likely violate the Constitution and issued a preliminary injunction preventing enforcement of the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA). He said it flies in the face of the Second Amendment.
“Can the senseless crimes of a relative few be so despicable to justify the infringement of the constitutional rights of law-abiding individuals in hopes that such crimes will then abate or, at least, not be as horrific?” Judge McGlynn wrote in Barnett v. Raoul. “More specifically, can PICA be harmonized with the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution and with Bruen? That is the issue before this Court. The simple answer at this stage in the proceedings is ‘likely no.’”
The ruling is another win for gun-rights advocates in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which set a higher standard of review for gun laws. It casts new doubt on whether assault weapons bans in other states can survive scrutiny under Bruen.
By Stephen Gutowski
