Justices reject challenge to Highland Park assault weapons ban

“The issue was whether the Second Amendment has any exceptions to it”, Elrod said.

The appeals court decision, written by Reagan appointee Frank Easterbrook, offers one rejoinder to this argument, pointing out that there was a time when the tommy gun was popular among Chicago gangsters.

Thomas was incredulous at the lower court’s decision, explaining that the Supreme Court’s decision excluded “only those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes”.

Mr. Bruinius writes: “Crimes involving assault weapons did decline, but this decline was offset, the report concluded, by an increase in the use of other guns equipped with high-capacity magazines”.

Gov. Chris Christie has supported some laws banning assault weapons but recently has changed his position as a candidate for president. These include seven states, the District of Columbia, New York City and San Francisco. “What we can do – and must do – is make it harder for them to kill”, he stated. Also, in that same year, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California’s “good cause” provision within their carry permit process was unconstitutional.

Gun-control supporters argue that the recent shootings demonstrate the need for tighter controls. But even where Democrats are in charge and are able to pass whatever gun laws they want, the restrictions they come up with are going to have only a modest impact on the overall number of guns and the attendant death toll. The arguments from the parties in the case reflect the deep divide nationwide between those who are pushing what they consider reasonable restrictions and others who think the lower courts are thumbing their nose at Supreme Court precedent by upholding certain restrictions.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia dissented. But as Thomas pointed out, “If a broad ban on firearms can be upheld based on conjecture that the public might feel safer (while being no safer at all), then the Second Amendment guarantees nothing”. The NRA and 24 US states urged the Court to hear the case brought forth by a Highland Park resident and the Illinois State Rifle Association, according to Reuters.

“The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting”, Thomas said for the pair. In 2010, the court extended that principle to the states.

Semi-automatic weapons are capable of shooting a single round with each pull of the trigger and, consequently, can fire rapidly.

Friedman filed an appeal with the high court in July, which won the backing of the National Rifle Association and the state attorneys from 23 mostly Republican-led states.

“I contacted the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and they agreed to defend the case at no expense to the city”, Elrod said.

Today’s Supreme Court decision establishes no legal precent in favor of such bans, Adam Winkler, UCLA constitutional law professor and Second Amendment expert, tells CityLab via email. Not only did the court hand gun rights advocates a loss, the vote was 7-2, including Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito, both of whom had voted in 2008 to create an individual right to own guns for the first time in American history.