Published on June 20, 2025 3:26 pm
Last Updated on June 20, 2025 3:26 pm
The US Department of Justice is telling a federal appeals court that Illinois’ gun and magazine ban is unconstitutional.
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals is accepting briefs in the lawsuit challenging Illinois’ 2023 ban on semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities. The lawsuit comes from the Southern District of Illinois where a federal judge last fall found the law violates the Second Amendment to keep and bear arms.
Last month, the state filed its appeal briefs arguing the ban on more than 170 semi-automatic firearms, including the popular AR-15 platforms, restricts dangerous firearms and addresses societal concerns about mass shootings.
The four plaintiffs’ groups filed their reply briefs earlier this month arguing there is no historical analog from the country’s founding era of governments banning commonly owned firearms.
In a filing siding with plaintiffs Friday, attorneys for the DOJ said the district judge got it right that Illinois’ ban on AR-15s and similar firearms is unconstitutional because they are commonly owned for lawful purposes.
“History confirms what the Second Amendment’s text suggests: Possessing weapons for the common defense was a core aspect of the preexisting right to keep and bear arms that the Founders codified in the Second Amendment,” the filing said.
The state is set to file its final briefs in the case in the weeks ahead, before oral arguments are scheduled by the appeals court. The case could be the next gun ban challenge to make it to the US Supreme Court.
