Supreme Court rejects challenge to IL assault weapon ban

The court’s decision, while not a formal ruling, strongly suggests the justices do not see the 2nd Amendment as protecting a right to own or carry powerful weapons in public. “They know there’s an upcoming election”, said Leonard.

“We held a number of conversations and the vast majority of the community was in favor of reducing access to assault weapons”, Mayor Nancy Rotering said.

Legal analysts note that the Supreme Court has not made a decision to take on a major gun case in five years now. The 7 Circuit ruled against him, and the justices’ decision to turn away his case means the circuit court’s ruling-along with the ban itself-will stand.

Police say the attackers in San Bernardino used such weapons as did the gunman who attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic two weeks ago in Colorado.

Gov. Chris Christie has supported some laws banning assault weapons but recently has changed his position as a candidate for president.

In October the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a similar assault weapons ban in NY and CT. “By prohibiting a class of weapons commonly used throughout the country”, he wrote, “Highland Park’s ordinance infringes upon the rights of its citizens to keep weapons in their homes for the objective of defending themselves, their families and their property”. In more than 90% of the cases, lower courts upheld the firearm regulations in question.

Richard Pearson, director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, was disappointed the Supreme Court did not hear the case but said his organization is still waiting for the conclusion of the state court case challenging the Cook County ban. But the Supreme Court said the Constitution provides individuals a right to possess a handgun in their homes for self-defense.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a Second Amendment challenge to an IL ordinance that banned semi-automatic assault weapons and large-capacity magazines.

After Highland Park, a suburb north of Chicago, adopted its ban on semiautomatic weapons in 2013, Dr. Arie Friedman and the Illinois State Rifle Association filed suit and contended the measure was unconstitutional.

Highland Park’s ordinance cited a string of recent mass shootings, such as the December 2012 killing of 28 people, including 20 schoolchildren in Newtown, Conn., as evidence of a public-safety crisis that local authorities had ample room to address without violating the Second Amendment. Taken with its disinterest in overturning city and state gun laws, a ban on terror suspects would likely survive a challenge in the courts.

Assault weapons are not an actual class of firearms.

“We need an attorney general who’s going to understand that we don’t need to pass new laws”, Christie said in July.

Highland Park has defended its ordinance, saying the prohibited weapons are capable of supporting large-volume magazines that are risky and uncommon.