WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court On Tuesday, he avoided taking a new case on the right to bear arms and upheld an Illinois law banning assault-style weapons. AR-15 semi-automatic rifleused in various high-profile mass shootings.
A decision not to hear multiple cases challenging the Illinois law means it remains in effect. Litigation over the Illinois ban and similar laws passed by other states is ongoing, and the issue is likely to return to court.
Meanwhile, the court sent several other gun cases to lower courts for further consideration in its light final judgment he supported a federal law barring domestic violence offenders from possessing firearms. In doing so, the court avoided adding a new gun case for the next term, which begins in October.
The Court has strongly upheld the right to bear arms under the Constitution’s Second Amendment, but a recent ruling showed that some longstanding laws may still stand.
Among the cases the court sent to lower courts was a challenge to a law banning illegal drug users from possessing firearms, the same law under which Hunter Biden was recently convicted.
Another case involves preventing non-violent criminals from owning guns.
The court also threw back a challenge to New York’s new gun restrictions.
In Illinois, conservative Justice Samuel Alito said he would take up the case.
Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas said he hoped the court would resolve the issue of what types of guns could be restricted in time.
An appeals court ruling upholding the Illinois ban “shows why this court should provide more guidance on what guns the Second Amendment covers,” Thomas said.
The announcement, which comes shortly after the court declined to hear a similar case from Maryland, shows the court’s reluctance to address what has become a recurring issue: whether such bans violate the Second Amendment to the Constitution, which the court extends. A decision on gun rights in 2022.
After that decision, some states tried to impose new restrictions, and the old ones were struck down by judges who applied the new test of judges.
The Illinois law went into effect on July 4, 2022, after the Highland Park shooting. killed seven. Supreme Court in May last year refused to block new restrictions. He also declined to block similar restrictions imposed in New York, suggesting a lack of enthusiasm among the justices to jump on the issue.
Illinois law bans what the state defines as assault weapons, including the AR-15 rifle, as well as large-capacity magazines that hold more than 10 rounds for long guns or 15 rounds for handguns.
The law does not prohibit any handgun. It also does not affect people who already own firearms covered by the ban.
Various gun rights activists and groups sued to block the law, saying it violated their Second Amendment right to bear arms.
In 1994, Congress enacted a nationwide ban on assault weapons, which expired a decade later. Subsequent attempts to revive him failed.
The legal landscape has changed dramatically in recent years due to the Supreme Court’s pro-gun rights stance, as illustrated by a series of decisions beginning with the 2008 decision that first recognized the right to bear arms.