NRA Challenges Illinois Gun Bans
Add comment June 30th, 2008
The National Rifle Association isn’t wasting any time following the U.S. Supreme Court’s pro-gun decision on Thursday.
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| The Late Charlton Heston,
NRA King |
A day after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision striking down a gun ban in Washington, the National Rifle Association on Friday sued Chicago and three suburbs to have their firearm bans repealed.
The separate federal suits by the NRA target gun bans in Evanston, Morton Grove and Oak Park in addition to Chicago.
On Thursday, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association also sued Chicago to overturn its 26-year gun ban.
Each of Friday’s lawsuits was filed on behalf of three or four NRA members who live in Chicago or the three suburbs and want the court to block the enforcement of the gun bans.
The suits in Chicago’s federal court quickly followed the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Thursday to throw out the longtime Washington gun ban.
That opened the door for legal challenges to other municipalities that have similar laws.
Similar lawsuits have been filed against other cities, including San Francisco.
The Supreme Court said in its landmark decision that the “Second Amendment protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home.”
However, the high court said “the Second Amendment right is not unlimited.”
It is not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any
manner whatsoever and for whatever purpose: For example, concealed
weapons prohibitions have been upheld under the Amendment
or state analogues. The Court’s opinion should not be taken to cast
doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by
felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms
in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or
laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of
arms. Miller’s holding that the sorts of weapons protected are those
“in common use at the time” finds support in the historical tradition
of prohibiting the carrying of dangerous and unusual weapons.
The complete decision is here.
Justice Breyer noted in his dissent that “Chicago has a law very similar to the District’s, and many of its suburbs also ban handgun possession under most circumstances.”
