Gun advocacy organizations request the Supreme Court to invalidate the firearm ban enacted in Cook County regarding assault weapons.
Two children were tragically killed and 17 other individuals were injured in a mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis on July 2, 2024, a day that saw various organisations file a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court to challenge the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals' affirmation of Cook County's gun ban. However, the Supreme Court chose not to review or overturn the lower court's decision, indicating no compelling federal question or conflicting precedent justifying its intervention.
The assault weapons ban in question, now officially known as the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban, was first adopted by Cook County in 1993 and has been updated at least twice since then. The law prohibits the possession, acquisition, and transfer of a variety of firearms, including the AR-15, that can accept large-capacity magazines.
The Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation have filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, seeking to overturn Cook County's ban on assault-style weapons. In recent months, the nation's high court has been reluctant to take up the question of assault weapon bans, as seen in its June decision to decline appeals involving Maryland's assault weapons ban as well as Rhode Island's ban on large-capacity magazines.
The Illinois General Assembly passed a statewide assault weapons ban, officially known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, in a bid to further restrict the use of such weapons. The 7th Circuit is currently weighing arguments in a challenge to this statewide ban, as well as local bans in Chicago, Naperville, and Cook County.
In November 2023, the 7th Circuit issued a ruling in a consolidated appeal involving the statewide ban as well as local bans. The plaintiffs appealed that ruling to the 7th Circuit, but the court said the plaintiffs had provided no compelling reason for the court to reconsider its earlier decisions. In July 2024, the court also declined to hear an appeal of the 7th Circuit's decision not to issue preliminary injunctions on the state and local assault weapons bans.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark gun rights decision in 2022, New York State Rifle and Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen. In this ruling, the court refused to issue preliminary injunctions to block enforcement of any of the aforementioned laws. A federal judge in Chicago upheld Cook County's assault weapons ban in 2018, citing a 7th Circuit decision from three years earlier upholding a similar city ordinance in Highland Park.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a statement that he felt the issue of assault weapons was not yet ripe for review, but that the court probably would address it "in the next Term or two." The petition aims to overturn similar bans nationally, including the statewide ban enacted in Illinois in 2023.
As of now, the U.S. Supreme Court has not indicated when or if it will review the Cook County assault weapons ban challenge. The ongoing debate surrounding gun control and the role of the courts in regulating firearms continues to be a contentious issue in the United States.
