Supreme Court Doesn’t Stop Illinois’ Assault Weapons Ban

Without giving any indication that it supports the law, the Supreme Court passed on a chance to block Illinois’ new bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. A gun rights group and a gun shop owner fighting the law asked the court to halt enforcement while an appeals court considers their case, the Hill reports. The court declined to intervene in an unsigned order, with no comment and no dissent noted, per CBS News. The full case could reach the justices later, however, giving them another chance. A local ban on assault-style weapons in Naperville that’s also being challenged will remain in place as well.

The legislation was passed after the mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade last year in Highland Park, in which seven people were killed and dozens wounded. One of the groups trying to overturn the law said the court eventually will decide on the ban, per NBC News.

“Commonly owned weapons are protected by the Second Amendment, and banning them has to stop,” said Dudley Brown, of the National Association for Gun Rights. Kris Brown of the gun control group Brady countered that “States and cities should have the right to stop these weapons of war from decimating our communities.” On Tuesday, hundreds of mothers went to Springfield, the state capital, to call for more legislation, including a measures to require safe gun storage. (Read more US Supreme Court stories.)