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SPRINGFIELD — Gun rights advocates scored a victory today when the Illinois Supreme Court decided to allow a challenge to Cook County's assault weapons ban to proceed.
The court ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out the challenge. The Supreme Court said it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.
Cook County banned the sale or possession of assault weapons in 1993. The ordinance included details of what constituted an assault weapon and examples of banned guns, but it was aimed at "high-capacity, rapid-fire" rifles and pistols. The law was expanded in 2006 to ban large ammunition magazines.
The ban was challenged by three Cook County residents who said they had perfectly valid reasons to own the prohibited weapons, from hunting to target shooting to personal protection. They argued that the law was too vague and too broad, with little connection to the goal of increasing public safety.
A trial court rejected their challenge, as did the state appeals court.
Then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Chicago ordinance that essentially banned handguns. It held that the 2nd Amendment establishes a fundamental right to possess a handgun for self-defense. The Illinois appeals court took another look at the case in light of the new Supreme Court ruling but still found the Cook County ban was constitutional.
SPRINGFIELD — Gun rights advocates scored a victory today when the Illinois Supreme Court decided to allow a challenge to Cook County's assault weapons ban to proceed.
The court ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out the challenge. The Supreme Court said it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.
Cook County banned the sale or possession of assault weapons in 1993. The ordinance included details of what constituted an assault weapon and examples of banned guns, but it was aimed at "high-capacity, rapid-fire" rifles and pistols. The law was expanded in 2006 to ban large ammunition magazines.
The ban was challenged by three Cook County residents who said they had perfectly valid reasons to own the prohibited weapons, from hunting to target shooting to personal protection. They argued that the law was too vague and too broad, with little connection to the goal of increasing public safety.
A trial court rejected their challenge, as did the state appeals court.
Then the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Chicago ordinance that essentially banned handguns. It held that the 2nd Amendment establishes a fundamental right to possess a handgun for self-defense. The Illinois appeals court took another look at the case in light of the new Supreme Court ruling but still found the Cook County ban was constitutional.
