Supreme Court declines to halt Illinois assault rifle ban
by Kaelan Deese, Supreme Court Reporter
December 14, 2023 03:16 PM
The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block an Illinois law that, beginning next year, will ban the sale of semiautomatic assault-style rifles and large-capacity magazines.
A gun-rights group presented the request, and the justices denied it without explanation, turning away a bid to halt the law while the high court decided whether to hear an appeal. The pro-Second Amendment group bringing the case lost a similar bid in May.
The petitioners, known as the National Association for Gun Rights, are also challenging a city ordinance passed last year by Naperville, Illinois, which is similar to an Illinois state law enacted this year barring the sale and possession of certain semi-automatic rifles and magazines.
Illinois's law allows people to keep firearms they already possess but will ban them from obtaining a new assault weapon beginning in the new year.
Since 2008, the high court has taken an expansive view of the Second Amendment and has broadened gun rights in three landmark cases. Firearms activists have sought to take advantage of a 2022 decision that strengthened a constitutional right to carry a gun and established a strict new test for assessing firearms restrictions.
On Wednesday, Justice Amy Coney Barrett refused to block a separate but similar request to block Illinois's law from going into effect.
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https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/courts/supreme-court-declines-halt-illinois-assault-rifle-ban
