BREAKING: Federal Court Strikes Down Illinois ‘Assault Weapon’ and Magazine Bans

AR-15 rifle muzzle devices
 (Photo: Kat Stevens)

After 18 months of legal wrangling, a federal court judge struck down Illinois gun and magazine ban.  The law effectively banned America’s favorite rifle, the AR-15, and hundreds upon hundreds of other popular rifles, shotguns and handguns highly sought after by everyday Americans for self-defense.

Sure, the PICA law allowed existing owners to register their “regulated” firearms by January 1, 2024 so they could keep them locked up at home, but 98% of Illinois gun owners declined to register guns, ammo or accessories.  Instead, the Prairie State saw a sudden rash of tragic boating accidents in the closing weeks of 2023.

Judge Stephen McGlynn wrote:

Court holds that the provisions of PICA criminalizing the knowing possession of specific semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, magazines, and attachments are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Yes Virginia, Governor Pritzker’s precious “Protect Illinois Communities Act” finds itself one step closer to falling into the dustbin of history.

Judge McGlynn stayed his order for 30 days to give the Land of Lincoln’s gun control jihadists an opportunity to appeal to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.  Through something known as “judicial economy,” the case would have ended up in front of the same three-judge panel that ruled against gun rights last fall.  However, one of the two judges on that panel that voted against gun right has since retired.  That means a third judge will be selected at random to fill that slot.  If that judge adheres to the rule of law and respects the Constitution, getting a stay while the Seventh weighs an appeal for a bunch of months is far from a certainty.

Here are the documents released Friday afternoon.

Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law

Memo and Order re: Motion to Preclude Plaintiff’s Experts and Evidence

Final Judgement

Here’ the NSSF’s press release ;

NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association, celebrated today the decision by U.S. District Court Judge Stephen P. McGlynn of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois striking down as unconstitutional the Illinois law that bans most semiautomatic firearms including Modern Sporting Rifles (MSRs), certain models of semiautomatic handguns and standard capacity magazines. The decision is a significant victory for the millions of law-abiding gun owners and the firearm industry in Illinois.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law HB 5471, the “Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA),” in January 2023. HB 5741 is among the nation’s most expansive gun control laws and banned the sale of hundreds of models of rifles including commonly-owned MSRs, certain semiautomatic handguns and rifle magazines with a capacity greater than 10 cartridges and pistol magazines with a capacity greater than 15 cartridges.

NSSF, along with several co-plaintiffs, filed a legal challenge seeking to strike down this unconstitutional law and prevailed. Notably, in his decision Judge McGlynn wrote, “PICA is an unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment and must be enjoined. The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self-defense as a means of offense.” More specifically, the court held that MSRs and standard capacity magazines are in common use and have legitimate self-defense purposes.

“This decision handed down by Judge McGlynn is welcomed and what we in the firearm industry have known all along: commonly-owned firearms and standard capacity magazines are protected by law-abiding Americans under the Second Amendment,” stated Lawrence G. Keane, NSSF Senior Vice President and General Counsel. “The U.S. Supreme Court has already recognized that semiautomatic rifles ‘traditionally have been widely accepted as lawful,’ and with over 28 million of these rifles in circulation today, they are clearly commonly-owned for lawful purposes, meeting the threshold set by the Supreme Court in its Heller decision. Semiautomatic handguns are overwhelmingly the choice of firearm for personal self-defense. This law was clearly unconstitutional and did nothing to punish criminals who choose to break the law. It only deprives law-abiding Americans from being able to exercise their full spectrum of Second Amendment rights.”

While the court struck down the law, it did stay its permanent injunction for 30 days to give the State the opportunity to appeal and seek an emergency stay from the Seventh Circuit, which means that the law temporarily stays in effect.

 

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3 thoughts on “BREAKING: Federal Court Strikes Down Illinois ‘Assault Weapon’ and Magazine Bans”

  1. But nothing changes. The injunction is on hold for 30 days for the state to appeal, and the 7th Circuit is guaranteed to rule against the judgement. Wat concerns me is the McGlynn ruled that .50 caliber rifles and ammo can be banned, since they’re “not in common use for self defense”. Bruen said nothing about the common use for self defense, they said “in common use for all lawful purposes including self defense”. McGlynn fucked up big time on that one. Words matter.

    1. That ‘in common use for self defense’ is the thing the anti-gun started sneaking into cases a couple of years ago. It is blatantly wrong, as you said, Bruen said nothing about the common use for self defense, they said “in common use for all lawful purposes including self defense”. Its one of those ‘cracks’ anti-gun created and are trying to exploit and ‘muddy the water’ with because ‘self-defense’ is frequently bought up by the pro-gun side as A use but not the only use.