A U.S. District Court judge ruled Friday that an Illinois ban on carrying concealed guns for self-defense on public transportation violates the Second Amendment.
Judge Ian D. Johnston Schoenthal vs Raul.
The plaintiffs in the suit — Benjamin Schoenthal, Mark Wroblewski, Joseph Bethel and Douglas Winston — all argued that the ban violates the Second Amendment.
Schoenthal, Wologblewski, Bethel and Winston's lawsuit was supported by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition.
Judge Johnston noted:
In Illinois, it is illegal to openly carry a firearm. Under the Illinois Concealed Carry Law, individuals with a concealed carry permit may generally carry a concealed handgun in public. However, this general permit does not apply to a list of prohibited areas, which includes public transportation.
He then Blue En (2022) noted that they presented a framework for analyzing and testing gun control policies.
Johnston pointed to the opinion of Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Fox, who supported the ban, and said, “Finally, and crucially, whatever the rest of the law may be, Fox's proposed framework: Blue EnThis denies the relevance of location to the threshold question of whether a particular conduct is covered by the Second Amendment.”
Ultimately, he ruled that “firearms laws that prohibit the concealed carrying of firearms on public transportation, as defined in the statute, violate the Second Amendment when applied to plaintiffs.”
Commenting on the ruling, Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment Foundation, called it an “important victory” and said, “The Court found Cook County Attorney Fox's argument that the ban was lawful because the State of Illinois was acting as the landowner to be 'breathtaking, astounding and eye-opening,' and not a compliment.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Constitutional Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the author and curator of Breitbart News' weekly Constitutional Amendment newsletter, Down Range with AWR Hawkins, which focuses on all things Constitutional Amendment. He is a political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, a pro staff member for Pulsar Night Vision, and the Global Marketing Director for Lone Star Hunts. He was a visiting scholar at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and earned his PhD in Military History. Follow him on Instagram. FollowIf you'd like to subscribe to Down Range, please sign up at breitbart.com/downrange. To get in touch directly, please email awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
