An Illinois law banning semiautomatic guns like AR-style rifles is unconstitutional, a federal judge ruled Friday, citing recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions that strictly interpret the Second Amendment, including a watershed 2022 ruling that law-abiding Americans have a right to carry a handgun outside the home for self-defense.
Judge Stephen McGlynn for the U.S. District of Southern Illinois determined that the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which outlaws hundreds of firearms and accessories such as bump stocks and high-capacity magazines, violates an individual’s right to bear arms. McGlynn stayed his order for 30 days, during which time the Illinois Attorney General’s Office plans to appeal the judge’s decision.
“The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self-defense as a means of offense,” McGlynn, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2020, wrote in a 168-page ruling.
“There are those who seek to usher in a sort of post-Constitution era where the citizens’ individual rights are only as important as they are convenient to a ruling class,” the judge wrote, adding: “The oft-quoted phrase that ‘no right is absolute’ does not mean that fundamental rights precariously subsist subject to the whims, caprice, or appetite of government officials or judges.”
McGlynn’s decision comes seven weeks after he held a four-day bench trial in East St. Louis, Illinois, where he heard the plaintiffs, a group of gun owners and sellers, who argued the weapons that had been banned were commonly used for legal reasons such as self-defense and hunting. Government lawyers defended the law as constitutional and necessary to protect people from a seemingly unending spate of mass shootings.
A shooting at the July 4 parade in 2022 in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens injured led Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and other Democratic lawmakers to push for tighter gun control. Robert Crimo III, who’s now 24, is awaiting trial in the shooting.
In January 2023, both the Illinois House and Senate passed the measure to ban the sale, manufacture, delivery and purchase of assault weapons. Under the law, Illinois residents who already owned such a weapon could keep them but were required to register them within 300 days of the law taking effect.
In signing the legislation, Pritzker said that “no Illinoisan, no matter their Zip code, should have to go through life fearing their loved one could be the next in an ever-growing list of victims of mass shootings,” according to the State Journal-Register.
The law, however, became divisive, after many county sheriffs refused to enforce what they considered an unconstitutional measure.
When he was up for confirmation in 2020 after being nominated by Trump, McGlynn indicated he was a member of the National Rifle Association, which is financially backing the plaintiffs that challenged the law, as well as a former member of the Illinois State Rifle Association, which is listed as a lead plaintiff in the case.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has already appealed the judge’s decision to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
On Friday, Pritzker spokesman Alex Gough defended the law as constitutional, saying it was the result of hundreds of hours of deliberation between legal experts, lawmakers and gun control advocates.
“Despite those who value weapons of war more than public safety, this law was enacted to and has protected Illinoisans from the constant fear of being gunned down in places where they ought to feel secure,” Gough wrote in a statement.
The Illinois State Rifle Association celebrated Friday’s ruling.
“Our legislative team tried to warn lawmakers about the unconstitutionality of Pritzker’s scheme,” the association wrote in a statement, adding: “Today’s ruling affirms our legislative position and shows our dedication to fighting on behalf of the millions of law-abiding Illinois firearms owners.”
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Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff, Robert Barnes and Ann E. Marimow contributed to this report.