(The Center Square) – A federal judge in East St. Louis found Illinois’ gun and magazine ban is unconstitutional and enjoined the state from enforcement, but stayed the ruling for 30 days for the state to appeal.
“[The Protect Illinois Communities Act] is an unconstitutional affront to the Second Amendment and must be enjoined,” federal Judge Stephen McGlynn wrote Friday in a 168 page ruling. “The Government may not deprive law-abiding citizens of their guaranteed right to self defense as a means of offense. The Court will stay enforcement of the permanent injunction for a period of thirty (30) days from the date of this Order.”
Illinois banned the sale and possession of more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities in January 2023. Federal lawsuits were filed in the following weeks.
The state argues the banned firearms are too similar to military firearms, are dangerous and unusual, and banning them is for public safety. Plaintiffs argue banning commonly owned firearms violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.
Four consolidated cases in the Southern District of Illinois federal court were consolidated by McGlynn in the spring of 2023. After granting a preliminary injunction against the law in April 2023, the state appealed. McGlynn’s preliminary injunction then lasted six days before the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals put a hold on McGlynn’s order and later ruled in favor of the state on preliminary grounds.
The case was then back in district court where McGlynn held a four-day bench trial in September. After final briefs were filed by the litigants last month, McGlynn issued his ruling on final judgment Friday.
“The Court is also not convinced that weapons like the AR-15 and its relatives are ‘dangerous and unusual,’” McGlynn wrote.
McGlynn also criticized the state’s prohibition on limiting magazine capacities.
“[T]his Court holds that these devices are also in common use and have legitimate self defense purposes,” the judge wrote. “For magazines, every round matters in a self-defense scenario – reloading takes away significant time during which the defender can be injured or wounded.”
When the preliminary issues were debated in the appeals court, the majority of the three-judge panel argued semi-automatic rifles like the AR-15 were too similar to military firearms that can switch to full auto. McGlynn pushed back on that with his final judgment order Friday.
“Therefore, the Court holds that ‘military use’ refers to weapons that are selected, procured, tested, and issued to military members for use in combat,” he wrote. “With this in mind, none of the weapons, magazines, or attachments prohibited by PICA can be called ‘military-grade’ since they were not issued to the military for use in combat.”
Supporters of the gun ban say the law was needed to keep people safe from bad actors who may use such firearms in a mass shooting, as was done in Highland Park on July 4, 2022.
“While the Court is sympathetic to those who have lost loved ones to gun violence, such tragedies are not an excuse to restrict the rights guaranteed to the Illinois public by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution,” McGlynn wrote. “Regardless of state governments’ desire to restrict law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights under the guise of crime control, the Second Amendment conclusively protects law-abiding citizens’ right to defend themselves utilizing weapons that are in common use.”
Ultimately, McGlynn said the government did not meet the burden to prove that the history and tradition of firearm regulations supports PICA’s “expansive sweep, covering hundreds of models of weapons, magazines, and attachments used by tens of millions of law-abiding United States citizens.”
The Second Amendment Foundation praised McGlynn’s ruling.
“This is a great victory for the Second Amendment Foundation and the right to keep and bear arms,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “The gun prohibition lobby and their bought-and-paid-for politicians just suffered a big defeat.”
An appeal from the state to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is expected.
