The decision comes just over a week since the Supreme Court announced it would review similar bans in other states.
CHICAGO (CN) – A Seventh Circuit panel upheld an Illinois ban on assault weapons Thursday afternoon, just over a week after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review similar bans nationwide.
“We hold that the act is consistent with the principles that underpin our regulatory tradition,” U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve on the dashboard. majority opinion. “In short, legislatures have long placed restrictions on particularly dangerous weapons, and the act is just another chapter in that story.”
U.S. District Court Judge Frank Easterbrook, a Ronald Reagan appointee, joined St. Eve, a Donald Trump appointee, in the 2-1 decision.
St. Eve agreed with the state’s contention that the Illinois Community Protection Act fits well with the historical tradition as described in the landmark 2022 Supreme Court case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen“because it applies indefinitely and authorizes imprisonment for violations, like the Bowie knife statutes.”
In one September 2025 At the hearing, Sarah Hunger, a deputy general counsel with the Illinois Attorney General’s office, compared Illinois’ assault weapons restriction to historical restrictions on Bowie knives.
A federal judge previously blocked enforcement of the ban after a trial in September overturned earlier rulings by State Supreme Court and the seventh circuit.
St. Eve noted that when comparing modern and historical gun regulations, the court must consider how and why the regulations burden someone’s Second Amendment rights.
“The burden the act imposes on that right is mitigated by what the record shows how often individuals use AR-15s and more than ten rounds for self-defense — an issue on which the district court made no findings of fact and on which the only evidence came from the defendants’ expert,” St. Eve in the majority opinion of 44 pages.
In a dissenting opinion, U.S. District Judge Michael Brennan, an appointee of Donald Trump, said the majority misapplied of BruenThe requirement of historical tradition.
“He cites a supposed historical tradition of regulating ‘especially dangerous weapons’ or ‘weapons whose danger and lethality are conspicuous,'” Brennan wrote. “To my colleagues, such weapons can be regulated whether they are in common use for lawful purposes or not.”
St. Eva disputed Brennan’s claim that the majority was “advancing ground” with its interpretation.
“Far from breaking new ground, we have applied the general methodological principles established in the court’s recent Second Amendment jurisprudence by identifying corresponding historical analogs,” she wrote.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul celebrated the decision in a statement Thursday.
“This is a victory that increases public safety in Illinois. We have seen the harm that assault weapons and high-capacity magazines can cause, and these weapons of war have no place in our communities. My office has successfully defended the state’s ban on these weapons in state and federal court, and I am extremely proud of this critical work in my public office. safety measure,” he said.
Illinois is one of eleven states with an assault weapons ban, according to the Research in each city.
On June 30, the Supreme Court agreed to take up review of such bans, including one specifically in Cook County. The county first passed the ban in the 1990s, long before the statewide ban went into effect after the 2022 Highland Park shooting.
The gunman, 24-year-old Robert Crimo III, armed with a legally purchased AR-15, opened fire on a crowded July 4th 2022 parade in Highland Park, an affluent suburb outside Chicago, killing seven and wounding 48 others. Crime pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences in prison in April.
Governor JB Pritzker then signed into law the Protecting Illinois Communities Act of 2023, completely banning the sale and purchase of assault weapons, assault weapon attachments, and accessories that increase the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons.
On social media on Thursday, the governor also praised the decision.
“Illinois will continue to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines that can cause mass casualties. A victory in the fight to end gun violence that helps keep our communities safe,” he wrote.
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