A federal judge deemed Illinois’ ban on assault weapons unconstitutional Friday, according to multiple outlets, though state Gov. J.B. Pritzker has vowed to appeal the ruling that overturned the ban enacted after a 2022 mass shooting killed seven and injured dozens in a Chicago suburb.
The ban was signed into law last year. (Zbigniew Bzdak/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via … [+] Getty Images)
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Key Facts
U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn said the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines violated the right to bear arms covered by the Second Amendment, according to the Associated Press, which noted McGlynn’s order does not take effect for 30 days.
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Pritzker signed the ban into law in January 2023, prohibiting the selling of assault weapons like the AR-15, along with high-capacity magazines, switches and other attachments, enacting the ban about six months after the 2022 Highland Park shooting.
Pritzker’s office plans to appeal the ruling within the next 30 days and said in a statement the ban “was enacted to and has protected Illinoisans from the constant fear of being gunned down in places where they ought to feel secure,” according to NBC Chicago.
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The Highland Park shooting that informed the creation of the ban left seven dead, injured some 48 people and was carried out by a shooter equipped with a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle.
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The Illinois State Rifle Association said its legislative team “tried to warn lawmakers about the unconstitutionality of Pritzker’s scheme” and called the ban an “affront to citizen’s rights” in a statement posted to its website Friday.
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Robert Crimo III, the alleged Highland Park shooter, is expected to go to trial early next year after rejecting a plea deal in June.
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Key Background
Illinois is one of several states with an assault weapons ban, with California, Washington, Massachusetts and New York among those with similar laws. The legislation has largely been established in response to persistently high levels of mass shootings in the U.S. within the last several years. A total of 449 mass shootings (a minimum of four victims shot, injured or killed, not including the shooter) have occurred in the U.S. so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which reported 656 mass shootings last year.
Further Reading
Alleged Chicago-Area 4th Of July Shooter Abruptly Rejects Plea Deal—Will Face Trial For Killing 7 (Forbes)
US judge tosses Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons, governor pledges swift appeal (AP)
Illinois has seen more tornadoes in 2026 than in any year on record.
Following several more tornadoes confirmed this week across the state, Illinois has recorded 143 tornadoes so far in 2026, beating the previous record of 142 tornadoes set in 2024. With reliable records dating back to 1950, Illinois averages just 54 tornadoes per year. But in recent years, the state has experienced many more:
2023: 121
2024: 142
2025: 126
2026: 143 and counting
Unlike 2024, when a record two-day tornado outbreak accounted for a large share of the year’s tornadoes, the activity in 2026 has been spread out across several months.
On Thursday, June 11, a tornado outbreak brought at least 21 confirmed tornadoes to northern Illinois and northwest Indiana, 13 of them in Illinois. Two tornadoes that day — in Streator, Illinois, and Hebron, Indiana — reached rare EF-3 intensity, with winds over 135 miles per hour. Numerous injuries were reported from the storms, but there were no fatalities.
Confirmed tornadoes from June 11:
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Long Point to Streator, IL: EF-3
Wenona/Osage Township, IL: EF-1
Graymont to Dwight, IL: EF-1
Lee, IL: EF-U
Harpster to Elliott, IL: EF-0
Pembroke Township (Leesville), IL: EF-U
St. John to Schererville, IN: EF-0
Paxton/Loda, IL: EF-1
Merrillville to Hobart, IN: EF-2
Ludlow, IL: EF-1
Cedar Lake, IN: EF-0
Schneider to Hebron, IN: EF-0
Watseka, IL: EF-0
Hebron to Kouts, IN: EF-3
Wellington/Prairie Green Township, IL: EF-1
Bartlett, IL: EF-1
Boswell to Atkinson, IN: EF-1
Ade to Mount Ayr, IN: EF-0
Naperville to Lisle, IL: EF-0
Hickory Hills to Garfield Ridge: EF-2
Morocco, IN: EF-0
Though most of the Chicago area dodged severe weather from storms this week, the National Weather Service confirmed a brief tornado touchdown Wednesday night in Lake County near Grayslake. The EF-0 tornado had estimated winds of 80 miles per hour and was on the ground for about a quarter-mile. Damage consisted of several downed or split trees and sporadic minor roof damage along a narrow corridor in the Saddlebrook Farms subdivision.
Four more tornadoes were confirmed Wednesday in western and central Illinois. NWS crews are still surveying damage in central Illinois, and more tornadoes may be added to the count in the coming days.
With 143 tornadoes so far this year, Illinois leads the nation in tornado count for the third time in the last four years — a remarkable statistic for a state not typically thought of as being in Tornado Alley.
The recent increase in tornado activity across Illinois and the Midwest fits research showing a shift in tornado-favorable environments away from parts of the traditional Plains Tornado Alley and farther east into the Midwest and South. Climate change is one likely factor, as warming temperatures are expected to make the Plains hotter and drier overall, shifting tornado ingredients eastward toward the Mississippi River.
BEECHER CITY, Ill. (WAND) – Farms were damaged in Effingham County Wednesday evening when a powerful storm swept through at around 8 p.m.
The McKay Farm in Beecher City was heavily damaged when the rapidly moving storm hit.
“Two buildings were totally destroyed,” Dan McKay told WAND News on Thursday. “We’ve got five grain bins and they’re all damaged.”
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The buildings collapsed onto farm equipment and a semi that were parked in the structures. A utility pole was snapped and ripped out of the ground.
In nearby Shumway, another farm was hit. A barn collapsed, with a grain bin being ripped apart and debris traveling several hundred feet through a nearby corn field. A house on the property was also damaged.
