Friday, April 06, 2012 Julie Tappendorf
In 2006, Cook County adopted the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban that prohibits assault weapons as well as large capacity magazines with the capacity to accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition. Plaintiffs sued the County, claiming that the Ordinance was unconsitutional on a number of grounds. Plaintiffs allege that the Ordinance is vague, violates their second amendment right to bear arms, and violates the equal protection clause of the United States Constitution. The circuit court granted the County's motion to dismiss the lawsuit. The appellate court affirmed, ruling that that the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), did not provide a fundamental right to bear arms applicable to the states and, therefore, the right to bear arms was subject to the police power of the state.
The case was then filed a petition for leave to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court. While that petition was pending, the U.S. Supreme Court filed its decision in McDonald v. City of Chicago, 130 S.Ct. 3020 (2010), which held that the second amendment applies to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. The Illinois Supreme Court sent the case back to the appellate court for review in light of McDonald. The appellate court upheld the dismissal of the lawsuit, holding that the second amendment right does not extend to assault weapons and that the County ban on assault weapons was substantially related to an important governmental interest.
The case was again appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which issued its ruling on April 5, 2012, in Wilson v. County of Cook. The Supreme Court's ruling can be summarized as follows:
