7th Circuit Overturns Chicago Gun Law As Violating Second Amendment

The Wall Street Journal Law Blog reports:

Chicago has been at the epicenter of disputes over gun rights for the past year, highlighted by a 7th Circuit ruling this week blocking a strict gun ordinance in the city.

First, some quick history. The Supreme Court last summer struck down a Chicago ordinance that effectively banned handguns in the city, a landmark ruling that held that the Second Amendment applies to states.

In the wake of that ruling, Chicago enacted another ordinance that required gun owners to get firearms training but that banned firing ranges within the city limits.

Litigation ensued claiming the new Chicago ordinance violates the Second Amendment, as we previously noted.

The 7th Circuit enjoined the ordinance, ruling Wednesday that those objecting to the ordinance have “a strong likelihood of success on the merits.” (Here’s a Chicago Tribune report and here’s the ruling.) In her opinion, 7th Circuit Judge Ilana Rovner wrote that the ordinance was “too cute by half” and amounted to “a thumbing of the municipal nose at the Supreme Court.”

Over at the Volokh Conspiracy blog, law professor David Kopel calls the 7th Circuit ruling “tremendously important,” noting that “the right to practice with firearms is an important ancillary to the core of the Second Amendment.”

The Chicago City Council sprung into action in the wake of the ruling, crafting a new ordinance that allows gun ranges in Chicago.

But the latest Chicago gun ordinance still has restrictions that displease gun-rights advocates, the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

The ordinance bans Chicago ranges within 1,000 feet of a school, park, place of worship, day care center, liquor store, library, museum, hospital or residential district.

The National Rifle Association told the Sun-Times that the ordinance is so restrictive it could invite another lawsuit.

“This is protected constitutional activity. If the city wants to continue to deny it, as they have with their revised gun ordinance, then obviously they haven’t learned anything from court rulings and our tenacity,” said Todd Vandermyde, Illinois legislative liaison for the NRA.

Tweet