For the second time in six months, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request from gun rights advocates to put a hold on Illinois’ sweeping gun ban, the latest decision coming as the deadline approaches for owners to register prohibited firearms they owned prior to the law’s effective date.
It was the second court setback this week for opponents of the ban on high-powered guns and high-capacity magazines. On Monday, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago denied a request from the National Association for Gun Rights and a Naperville gun dealer for a review by the full court of November’s ruling by a three-judge panel that kept the gun ban in place.
The Supreme Court in May declined a request by plaintiffs to block the state and local gun bans until the 7th Circuit appellate case was adjudicated.
Legal challenges to the ban are not over. The Supreme Court’s decision on Thursday merely denied the gun advocates’ request for a temporary halt on the ban from being enforced until they take a full appeal of the 7th Circuit’s ruling to the high court.
Speaking to reporters outside the Governor’s Mansion following a Hanukkah event on Thursday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker again defended the gun ban, saying he believes “as everybody that voted on the law and voted for it, that this is not only a legal undertaking, an appropriate undertaking to keep and safeguard the people of the state of Illinois, but a constitutional one too.”
The ban has been the subject of intense legal wrangling on the state and federal levels ever since Pritzker signed it into law on Jan. 10, six months after a mass shooting during a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park left seven people dead and dozens more hurt.
In April, U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn of the Southern District of Illinois issued a preliminary injunction against the ban, ruling that it likely violated the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. That decision, resulting from lawsuits filed by other gun rights advocates, was overturned last month by the 7th Circuit.
Earlier this week, McGlynn heard arguments over the legality of the registration process for guns that are grandfathered in under the ban. Residents who owned guns covered by the ban before it took effect have to register those firearms by Jan. 1 or face a misdemeanor charge for a first offense and a felony for subsequent violations.
Gun rights organizations argue the registry violates both the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms and the 14th Amendment’s due process clause. McGlynn indicated that he’s likely to not issue an injunction in the case.
The registration process began Oct. 1, and state records as of Dec. 8 show that 6,141 gun owners have registered nearly 12,100 guns and about 6,250 firearm accessories or other firearm components covered by the ban.
Earlier this week, Republican state Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block the registration requirement from taking effect. The high court also denied that request.
Caulkins also sued to overturn the gun ban as a whole in state court, but the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against him in August. He has appealed the ruling to the federal high court, which has yet to rule on his request.
___
© 2023 Chicago Tribune
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
