WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied a request from gun rights groups to temporarily block laws in Illinois that ban the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines, meaning the prohibitions will remain in effect for now.
The court turned down the request from gun groups in a one-sentence order that did not explain its reasoning, which is common for cases on its emergency docket. There were no noted dissents.
The decision, which is preliminary, is the latest in which the high court declined to intervene in a Second Amendment challenge following its decision last year to expand the ability of Americans to carry handguns in public. The type of weapons banned have been used in several mass shootings, including one outside of Chicago in July in which seven people were killed and dozens more were injured.
Illinois enacted a law in January banning the sale of AR-15 rifles and handgun magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Gun rights groups and a gun shop owner sued over that law as well as a similar ordinance enacted in Naperville, Ill., last year that bans the sale of “assault rifles.”
Gun rights groups cite a major opinion from the Supreme Court last year that declared a New York law requiring residents to have “proper cause” to carry a handgun unconstitutional. That 6-3 decision also directed courts to strike down gun regulations unless they are “consistent with this nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
Why both sides cited history to frame the guns rights fight in Illinois
The decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen last year has opened a nationwide debate about what sort of gun regulations have a historic antecedent strong enough to clear that standard. Both sides in the Illinois dispute claim to have history on their side.
The state has “been unable to identify a founding era regulation analogous to their absolute bans,” the gun groups argued. “The Second Amendment protects arms that are commonly possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes, especially self-defense in the home.”
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Illinois officials told the Supreme Court this week that there is a tradition for banning certain types of weapons.
“Not only do assault weapons and (large capacity magazines) derive from military-grade weaponry, their features render them uniquely suitable as weapons of war but not commonly used or suitable for personal self-defense,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, a Democrat, told the court in a brief.
What happens now?
The case arrived on the Supreme Court’s emergency docket, where the court often makes decisions about whether to temporarily allow or halt enforcement of laws while the underlying dispute plays out in lower federal courts. A U.S. District Court ruled for the city and state in February. In April, the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit denied a request to temporarily block the laws while that decision is appealed.
The litigation will now continue in the appeals court and will likely eventually make it back to the Supreme Court on the merits.
The case is National Association for Gun Rights v. City of Naperville.
The Supreme Court’s decision last year in didn’t directly answer whether prohibitions on certain semi-automatic rifles, high-capacity magazines or people under 21 carrying weapons are consistent with the Second Amendment. There is also litigation pending about place-based prohibitions – such as in parks or on subways and buses.