Second Amendment Foundation weighs in on lawsuit challenging Illinois assault weapons ban

(The Center Square) - The Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) and its partners are weighing in on a case out of Illinois being considered by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

The case, which SAF filed a briefing on, concerns a challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons and magazine capacity bans.

In 2023, Illinois passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which banned the sale or purchase of high-capacity magazines and “assault weapons.” PICA also requires owners of assault weapons to register them with Illinois State Police.

An email sent to The Center Square by SAF indicates they are “joined in Harrel v. Raoul by the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, C4 Gun Store, Marengo Guns and Dane Harrel, for whom the lawsuit is named.”

Here's the background on the case:

On Jan. 10, 2023, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed HB 5471 (PICA) into law.HB 5471 made it unlawful for any person in Illinois to manufacture, deliver, sell, import, purchase or possess commonly owned semi-automatic firearms that the Bill had categorized as an “assault weapon.”Assault weapons were defined to include “semi-automatic rifles with the capacity to accept a detachable magazine coupled with which had any number of certain characteristics, such as a pistol grip, telescoping stock, flash suppressor, or threaded barrel, which are commonly possessed throughout the United States for lawful purposes,” according to SAF.The bill also made it a crime to “manufacture, deliver, sell, purchase, or possess so-called large capacity ammunition feeding devices.” Such devices were defined to include rifle magazines with a capacity of more than 10 rounds of ammunition and handgun magazines with a capacity of more than 15 rounds of ammunition.

SAF contends the bill violates the Second Amendment rights of the people of Illinois and argues the government cannot ban those arms simply because they do not like the features that they may possess.

“Both modern semiautomatic rifles, and the standard capacity magazines that feed them, are overwhelmingly in common use for lawful purposes, including self-defense, said SAF’s Director of Legal Operations Bill Sack during a Monday interview with The Center Square. “Twice now, the District Court has agreed and ruled in SAF’s favor, first in granting a preliminary injunction, and then on the merits on remand. With a full trial record now before it, the Seventh Circuit has a second opportunity to properly apply the Heller/Bruen test and leave these Illinois statutes in the wastebin of history.”

Washington state has nearly identical bans on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition, but the Illinois case is further along the legal and procedural route, so that case is expected to lead the charge for gun rights supporters.

“We are currently involved in seven assault weapons ban challenges around the country with Washington being one of them,” said Sack. “The Harrell case is just a bit further along procedurally.”

Sack explained the U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to hear another high-profile gun rights case out of Maryland, but hinted the court is ready to take up the next big case on weapons or ammo bans, with three justices signaling they are prepared to consider a case.

“And then Justice Kavanaugh in his statement respecting the denial said, essentially, 'We're going to take up this issue soon, within the next term or two,'" said Sack. “He indicated that he wanted to give the circuit courts a little more time to chew on the issue themselves, and we suspect that one of the cases that was well within his crosshairs when he said that was this Harrell case.”

Gun control groups like Everytown support the ban, arguing it is a reasonable restriction on Second Amendment rights and would help reduce gun violence and mass shootings.

Sack noted the AR-15 is one of the most commonly used rifles for sporting and hunting in the country.

“There are millions and millions of them in circulation,” said Sack. “They are overwhelmingly used lawfully for everything from hunting, sport shooting, target shooting, self-defense and more. They are unquestionably in common use and well within the ambit of protection by the Second Amendment. The same exact thing goes for the standard capacity magazines that are built for them.”

Sack said they have no idea how soon the Seventh Circuit will take up the Illinois case.

“Briefing is underway now, and it will then be on the Seventh Circuit to set an oral argument date and then how long they choose to sit on it thereafter. Your guess is as good as mine. You know, from our perspective, we certainly would love them to push it through with some haste," said Sack. "We suspect that they might not so we will see but we are at the whim of the scheduling gods in the 7th Circuit."

As reported by The Center Square, the Washington Supreme Court last month upheld the state’s ban on the sale and import of high-capacity magazines, ruling the state can regulate magazines without violating either federal or state constitutional protections of the right to bear arms.

SAF believes the U.S. Supreme Court will soon weigh in with a ruling that will finalize all current state and district level cases concerning so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazine restrictions.