A divided federal appeals court just upheld Illinois’ ban on AR-15s, standard magazines, and other commonly owned firearms — giving the Supreme Court yet another reason to step in and settle the issue once and for all.
The ruling came from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Barnett v. Raoul, where gun owners challenged Illinois’ so-called Protect Illinois Communities Act.
A federal district court had already ruled the ban unconstitutional.
But the Seventh Circuit reversed that decision in a 2-1 ruling, relying on its earlier anti-gun reasoning in Bevis v. City of Naperville.
The court’s theory is dangerous: because AR-15s supposedly resemble military firearms, politicians may ban them from civilian hands.
That argument should alarm every gun owner in America.
The AR-15 is not some rare battlefield weapon. It is the best-selling rifle in the country, owned by millions of law-abiding Americans for self-defense, training, sport, competition, and other lawful purposes.
That places it squarely within the “common use” protection recognized in District of Columbia v. Heller.
If courts can allow politicians to ban the most popular rifle in America, then no commonly owned firearm is safe.
The Supreme Court Is Already Taking Up the Fight
The timing could not be more important.
Just days before the Seventh Circuit handed down its decision, the Supreme Court agreed to hear major challenges to so-called “Assault Weapons” bans in Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins.
Those cases ask whether the Second and Fourteenth Amendments protect semiautomatic rifles in common use for lawful purposes, including the AR-15.
That means the Supreme Court is now positioned to answer the question anti-gun politicians and hostile lower courts have been dodging for years:
Can the government ban rifles owned by millions of law-abiding Americans?
The answer must be no.
The Second Amendment does not protect only the arms politicians find harmless, outdated, or politically convenient. It protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms.
And that right means very little if the government can outlaw the firearms Americans overwhelmingly choose to own.
TXGRF Is Taking the Fight to the Supreme Court
Gun owners in Texas should not make the mistake of thinking this is only an Illinois problem.
The gun confiscation lobby wants this model everywhere.
And if the Supreme Court gets this wrong, anti-gun politicians from California to New York will treat it as a green light to ban more firearms, restrict more magazines, and push their gun confiscation agenda further than ever before.
But if the Court gets it right, it could deal a devastating blow to one of the gun-ban lobby’s favorite schemes.
That is why the Texas Gun Rights Foundation is already drafting an amicus brief urging the Supreme Court to strike down these unconstitutional bans once and for all.
The anti-gun lobby will flood the Court with briefs claiming Americans cannot be trusted to own commonly used rifles.
The Supreme Court deserves to hear from Texans who understand that constitutional rights do not disappear because politicians invent scary names for commonly owned firearms.
“This is the moment gun owners have been waiting for,” said Chris McNutt, President of Texas Gun Rights Foundation.
“But getting our brief filed takes resources, and we need gun owners to help us finish the job.”
Chip in today to help Texas Gun Rights Foundation complete and file its Supreme Court amicus brief in the fight against AR-15 bans.
