Gun Rights Group to Ask Supreme Court to Review 7th Circuit Decision that AR-15s Not Protected by 2A

The Illinois State Rifle Association indicates they will ask the Supreme Court to review the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit’s decision that noted AR-15s are not protected by the Second Amendment.

The decision was issued by a three-judge panel of the court on Friday, which sided 2 to 1 against against a preliminary injunction issued against Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban.

Breitbart News reported that the decision removed the preliminary injunction against the ban. That injunction had been issued by U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn.

The three judges were Ronald Reagan appointee Frank Easterbook, Bill Clinton appointee Diane P. Wood, and Donald Trump appointee Michael P. Brennan.

Wood and Easterbrook decided in the majority while Brennan dissented. Brennan made clear his belief that the Illinois “assault weapons” ban could not survive the Bruen (2022) test. He subsequently stressed that AR-15s and the magazines they use are protected by the Constitution.

Brennan wrote, “Because the banned firearms and magazines warrant constitutional protection, and the government parties have failed to meet their burden to show that their bans are part of the history and tradition of firearms regulation, preliminary injunctions are justified against enforcement of the challenged laws.”

The Illinois State Rifle Association responded to the decision by making clear their intent to ask the Supreme Court to review it.

They gun rights’ group said: “It has always been and is our intent to take our case to the U.S. Supreme Court where we believe we can get a favorable ruling for law-abiding gun owners in Illinois. We will continue to stand up for the Second amendment and Illinois law-abiding gun owners and against our anti-gun Governor Pritzker and General Assembly. We will be working with our attorneys to take our appeal to the United States Supreme Court.”

The case is Bevis v. City of Naperville, No. 23-1353 in the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com