The Supreme Court has upheld an Illinois statute prohibiting the use of high-powered semiautomatic rifles.
The Supreme Court refused a preliminary injunction request from the National Association for Gun Rights in a Thursday order with no stated dissents or explanation of its reasons.
The ban, signed in January by Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, includes penalties for anybody who “carries or possesses… manufactures, sells, delivers, imports, or purchases any assault weapon or 50 caliber rifle.”
The law also specifies penalties for anybody who “sells, manufactures, delivers, imports, possesses, or purchases any assault weapon attachment or 50 caliber cartridge.”
The law also contains a limit on the purchase of specific magazines, as well as any equipment or tools used to improve the fire rate of a semiautomatic weapon.
The statute will remain in effect following Thursday’s decision while it is contested in lower courts.
The National Association for Gun Rights stated in a statement that the verdict had no bearing on the lawsuit.
“A right denied is a right delayed, and each day that these gun bans are enforced is a travesty to freedom.” We will return to the Supreme Court as soon as our legal team completes drafting our cert petition, and they will have to decide if they truly meant what they stated in Heller and Bruen,” said Dudley Brown, President of the National Association for Gun Rights.
In November, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denied a motion to stay the statute. The Illinois Supreme Court maintained the law in a 4-3 ruling in August.
People who previously owned guns that would otherwise be illegal under the law can keep them if they are registered with the state before January 1, 2024.