The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld Illinois' ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, rejecting constitutional challenges brought under the Second Amendment. The decision upholds an earlier ruling by the district court that found the state's weapons restrictions constitutional.
The Seventh Circuit's panel determined that Illinois' law survived intermediate scrutiny, the applicable legal standard for firearm regulations that burden but do not completely prohibit core Second Amendment rights. The court concluded the state demonstrated a substantial governmental interest in public safety and that the assault rifle ban represented a reasonable fit for achieving that interest.
The ruling applies specifically to Illinois' Firearms Restraint Act provisions that limit magazine capacity to ten rounds and prohibit semiautomatic rifles classified as assault weapons. Plaintiffs challenging the law argued it violated their individual right to bear arms as protected by the Second Amendment and incorporated through the Fourteenth Amendment via the Supreme Court's 2022 decision in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.
The timing of the Seventh Circuit's decision proves significant. The Supreme Court announced just over one week prior that it would grant certiorari to review assault rifle bans enacted in other jurisdictions, creating potential conflict between the appellate ruling and forthcoming Supreme Court guidance. That petition review suggests the nation's highest court intends to revisit firearm regulations in the post-Bruen landscape.
The Seventh Circuit's reasoning here conflicts with some other circuit courts' analysis of similar state weapons bans. Several districts have applied Bruen's text-history-and-tradition test more strictly, striking down magazine capacity restrictions and assault weapon definitions as lacking sufficient historical pedigree.
Illinois officials defend the assault rifle restrictions as consistent with historical regulations on dangerous weapons. Gun rights advocates argue modern semiautomatic rifles constitute common arms for lawful purposes, placing them within core Second Amendment protection.
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