Seventh Circuit upholds Illinois assault rifle ban

CHICAGO (CN) — A Seventh Circuit panel upheld an Illinois ban on assault weapons Thursday afternoon, just over one week after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review similar bans around the nation.

“We hold that the act is consistent with the principles that underpin our regulatory tradition,” U.S. Circuit Judge Amy St. Eve wrote in the panel’s majority opinion. “In short, legislatures have long imposed restrictions on particularly dangerous weapons, and the act is but another chapter in that story.”

U.S. Circuit Court Judge Frank Easterbrook, a Ronald Reagan appointee, joined St. Eve, a Donald Trump appointee, in the 2-1 decision.

St. Eve agreed with the state’s assertion the Protect Illinois Communities Act falls well in line with historical tradition as outlined in landmark 2022 Supreme Court case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, “because it applies indefinitely and authorizes imprisonment for violations, like the Bowie knife statutes.”

In a September 2025 hearing, Sarah Hunger, a deputy solicitor general with the Illinois Attorney General’s office, likened the Illinois restriction on assault weapons to historical restrictions on Bowie knives.

A federal judge previously blocked enforcement of the ban following a September bench trial, which overturned previous rulings from the state Supreme Court and the Seventh Circuit.

St. Eve noted that when comparing modern and historical gun regulations, the court must consider how and why the regulations burden someone’s Second Amendment rights.

“The burden the act imposes on that right is mitigated by what the record indicates about how frequently individuals actually use AR-15s and more than ten rounds in self-defense — a matter on which the district court made no factual findings and on which the only evidence came from the defendants’ expert,” St. Eve wrote in the 44-page majority opinion.

In a dissenting opinion, U.S. Circuit Judge Michael Brennan, a Donald Trump appointee, said the majority improperly applied Bruen’shistorical tradition requirement.

“It cites a purported historical tradition of regulating ‘particularly dangerous weapons’ or ‘weapons whose danger and lethality stand out,’” Brennan wrote. “To my colleagues, such weapons can be regulated regardless of whether they are in common use for lawful purposes or not.”

St. Eve pushed back on Brennan’s claim the majority was “breaking fresh ground” with its interpretation.

“Far from breaking fresh ground, we have applied the general methodological principles established in the court’s recent Second Amendment jurisprudence by identifying relevantly similar historical analogues,” she wrote.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul celebrated the ruling in a Thursday statement.

“This is a win that enhances public safety in Illinois. We have seen the damage that assault weapons and large-capacity magazines can inflict, and these weapons of war have no place in our communities. My office has successfully defended the state’s prohibition on these weapons in both state and federal court, and I am immensely proud of the hardworking attorneys in my office who have worked diligently to preserve this critical public safety measure,” he said.

Illinois is one of eleven states with a ban on assault weapons, according to Everytown Research.

On June 30, the Supreme Court agreed to take up review of such bans, including one specifically in Cook County. The county first enacted the ban in the 1990s, long before the statewide ban was implemented in the wake of the Highland Park 2022 shooting.

The gunman, 24-year-old Robert Crimo III, armed with a legally purchased AR-15, shot into a crowded 2022 Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, an affluent suburb outside of Chicago, killing seven and wounding 48 others. Crimo pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven consecutive life sentences in prison in April.

Governor J.B. Pritzker then signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act in 2023, outright banning the sale and purchase of assault weapons, assault weapon attachments and accessories that increase the rate of fire for semiautomatic weapons.

On social media Thursday, the governor also praised the ruling.

“Illinois will continue banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines capable of inflicting mass casualties. A victory in the fight to end gun violence that helps keep our communities safe,” he wrote.