A federal judge in Illinois ruled that the state's assault rifle ban was unconstitutional, saying the decision violated the Second Amendment.
In the opinion of U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, he issued a permanent injunction prohibiting enforcement of the ban, but the injunction would not go into effect for 30 days and the injunction would be suspended to allow time for appeal. He said it means that it will be done.
The ruling comes after a federal appeals court in the state last month upheld an assault weapons ban passed last year after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in suburban Chicago. The decision was made on the basis that it was a reasonable restriction. Second Amendment.
“The government may penalize intentionally false fire alarms; it may make free assembly a condition on the issuance of permits; it may require voters to show valid identification; and; “Child abuse can be punished even if it is done in the name of religion,” Judge Diane Wood wrote in her decision. “The rights enshrined in the Second Amendment are no different.”
“Firearms are subject to debate, from political to jurisprudential debates,” McGlynn said in his ruling.
He added: “At the crossroads of this debate lies the Second Amendment.”
The law in question, known as the Illinois Community Protection Act, prohibits the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches in the state. Under the law, individuals who were in possession of these items were required to submit an affidavit of recognition through a firearms identification card.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), who signed the bill into law in January, called it “common sense legislation.”
McGlynn said in his ruling that the ban “makes the knowing possession of hundreds of previously legal rifles, handguns, and shotguns a crime.”
“There is no satisfactory consensus regarding guns, especially those defined as “assault weapons.'' Without malice on either side of these arguments, and without intending to impose policy judgments on the statutory judiciary, this court will consider what exactly it means for a firearm to be “dangerous,” “unusual,” or “endurable.” trying to understand. “in normal use,” “dual use,” and/or “military weapons,” he wrote.
The Hill has reached out to Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's press office and the Southern District of Illinois for comment.
