Supreme Court Leaves in Force Illinois Assault-Weapon Ban (2)

The US Supreme Court left in force a new Illinois ban on the sale of semiautomatic assault-style rifles and large-capacity magazines, declining for now to intervene while legal challenges go forward.

The high court, without comment or any noted dissent, turned away an emergency request to pause the law filed by a gun-rights group and a firearms retailer in the Chicago suburb of Naperville. The challengers also sought to halt a Naperville ban on assault-weapons sales, saying the restrictions violate the Constitution’s Second Amendment.

Gun-rights advocates are looking to extend the 2022 Supreme Court decision that declared a constitutional right to carry a firearm and established a tough new test for assessing restrictions. The court’s conservative majority said defenders of gun laws must be able to show a historical tradition of similar restrictions.

The state and city approved the bans after a shooter armed with a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle and 30-round magazines killed seven people and wounded dozens at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois.

The group behind the suit, the National Association for Gun Rights, downplayed the significance of Wednesday’s order, predicting the justices ultimately will strike down the measures.

“Any action the Supreme Court would have taken at this point would only have been temporary and not on the merits of the case itself,” said Hannah Hill, executive director of the group’s legal-defense arm, in a statement posted online.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said he is confident the state’s law will be upheld.

“The gun lobby has insisted on every legal maneuver to block this law, refusing to acknowledge that lives will be saved by this important piece of legislation,” he tweeted.

The laws let people keep firearms they already possess, though the Illinois measure will bar possession of new assault weapons starting next year. The Illinois statute also imposes a registration requirement that isn’t at issue in the case.

The gun dealer, Robert Bevis, says the restrictions are forcing him out of business, telling the justices that more than 85% of the firearms he sells are now banned.

A federal district judge rejected the challengers’ bid for a preliminary injunction, and the Chicago-based 7th US Circuit Court of Appeals declined to freeze the laws while the case is on appeal. The appeals court is planning to hear the case on an expedited basis.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the Supreme Court that six federal district judges have refused to block either that state’s law or similar bans elsewhere. Another district judge temporarily blocked the Illinois measure, but the 7th Circuit put that ruling on hold during the appeals process.

The case is National Association for Gun Rights v. City of Naperville, 22A948.

(Updates with reaction starting in fifth paragraph.)

To contact the reporter on this story:
Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net

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