Supreme Court turns away, for now, challenges to state ban on assault-style weapons

WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected challenges to Illinois' ban on assault-style weapons, punting for now on the question of whether the ban is allowed under a controversial new test for gun restrictions.

The court was asked to block Illinois’ ban while multiple challenges to the state’s law are litigated.

The justices declined to take the cases.

Justice Samuel Alito said he would have taken the appeals.

Justice Clarence Thomas said the court was "rightly wary" of stepping in at this stage.

"But, I hope we will consider the important issues presented by these petitions after the cases reach final judgment," he wrote.

Hannah Hill, director of legal affairs for the National Association of Gun Rights, said the group’s challenges will continue, and will “outlast both the gun grabbers and the Supreme Court’s procedural reticence.”

“But my heart breaks for the people of Illinois today,” she said on social media.

Gun rights advocates argue the ban violates a recent Supreme Court decision that requires gun restrictions be grounded in the nation’s history.

“This court needs to intervene before this open defiance spreads further,” former Solicitor General Paul Clement and other lawyers representing those challenging Illinois’ ban told the court .

Ten states and the District of Columbia ban some type of assault-style weapons. Others limit large-capacity magazines.

Officials in Illinois said there’s a historical tradition of reserving especially dangerous weapons for the military and law enforcement.

"As the Seventh Circuit recognized, these regulations have limited the sale, possession, and use of such weapons since the Colonial era," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told the court.

Raoul also argued the Supreme Court should let the lower courts work through how to apply their recent ruling on guns to the restrictions before determining if there’s a need to get involved.

Illinois bans the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles and pistols as well as high-capacity magazines. State officials said such firearms are the weapons of choice for mass shootings because they allow many rounds to be fired without reloading.

Do bans on semi-automatic rifles violate the 2nd Amendment?

The restrictions were passed after a 2022 mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb. But they also came months after the Supreme Court struck down gun regulations unless they are "consistent with this nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation ."

That decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen didn’t directly answer whether prohibitions on certain semi-automatic rifles or high-capacity magazines are consistent with the Second Amendment.

In upholding this month a law banning domestic abusers from owning guns , Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that restrictions "must comport with the principles underlying the Second Amendment," but there doesn't have to be a "historical twin" to the rule.

Related Supreme Court to decide fate of Biden's regulation on untraceable weapons known as 'ghost guns'

The Supreme Court has twice declined to get involved at earlier stages of the dispute over the rules in Illinois, which face multiple challenges from gun rights groups, gun shop owners and individuals.

In November, a divided panel of the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit denied opponents' efforts to put the law on hold as it's being challenged. The panel also upheld several similar local laws in Illinois.

The panel stressed the ruling was a "preliminary look” and said the challengers may present more persuasive evidence during trials that shows the banned firearms are those ordinary people would use for self-defense rather than being akin to machineguns or military-grade weaponry.

Clement called that an “exceedingly burdensome” hurdle to "challenge something as seemingly obviously covered as a statewide ban on common firearms.”

Republican officials from 28 states supported those trying to stop the bans.

The high court recently declined to get involved for now in a challenge to Maryland’s ban on assault-style weapons after the gun rights groups who oppose the ban had asked the court to take the unusual step of weighing in before an appeals court issued its pending ruling.

The court has so far agreed to take one gun control case for its next term, whether the Biden administration can regulate “ghost guns” by requiring manufacturers of the untraceable weapon kits to conduct background checks on customers and mark their products with serial numbers.

The court last week struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks , devices that turn a semi-automatic rifle into something closer to a machine gun.

A decision is pending on whether domestic abusers can be banned from owning guns.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Supreme Court turns away, for now, challenges to state ban on assault-style weapons