Across the nation, federal judges are following the guidelines on Second Amendment cases as clarified in the Supreme Court Bruen decision.
A few states and cities have thumbed their noses at the Supreme Court and created even more infringements on Second Amendment Rights. One of those states is Illinois. A ban on guns, magazines, and more has been challenged in several lower courts. Napierville, Illinois, issued its own ban on the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles. Federal Judge McGlynn has issued a temporary injunction, stopping the enforcement of both Illinois laws. In the Napierville case, the plaintiffs have separately appealed for an injunction to the Supreme Court. Justice Amy Coney Barrett is reported to have asked for more information.
The case Justice Barrett is considering is Bevis v City of Naperville. The case was filed on September 7, 2022. The city of Naperville claims a ban on the sale of “assault rifles” is not an infringement on Second Amendment rights.
From the briefing for the City:
Plaintiffs’ claims fail because the Ordinance does not burden conduct protected by the plain text of the Second Amendment. Naperville’s Ordinance is a limited restriction on the commercial sales of one type of weapon — it is not a blanket ban on sales of firearms, let alone a ban on possession and ownership of assault weapons. The plain text of the Second Amendment says nothing about sale of arms, only their use. Beyond this, the Second Amendment protects only those arms which are “in common use” for lawful self-defense and Plaintiffs have offered no evidence that assault rifles are used in such a manner. Third, reliable canons of statutory interpretation support the constitutionality of the Ordinance. Finally, before or after Bruen, no court has held prohibiting the commercial sale of assault rifles violates the Second Amendment. The Ordinance is constitutional on its face.
The plaintiffs dispute these allegations. From their reply:
Nevertheless, in the teeth of binding Seventh Circuit precedent, the City asserts that “the Second Amendment only protects an individual’s right to ‘keep and bear arms.’”Resp. (emphasis in original). It is impossible to square this assertion with Ezell I’s unambiguous holding that the right to keep and bear arms subsumes the right to acquire arms. Naperville’s ordinance bans the sale of a category of arms. Banning the sale of a category of arms is the same as banning the purchase of those arms. Thus, the Naperville ordinance burdens the right to acquire arms recognized in Ezel lI, and this implicates the Second Amendment.
Justice Barrett is reported to have asked for more information. From thedailyherald.com:
Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is giving the city of Naperville until next Monday to provide further information regarding its local ordinance prohibiting the sale of certain high-powered weapons.
Barrett’s request comes after a Naperville gun shop owner asked her to temporarily halt enforcement of Naperville’s gun ban and Illinois’ similar ban while both are being challenged in lower courts.
The request from Bevis v City of Naperville is directly to the Supreme Court. Justice Barrett reviews such requests for the courts in the Seventh Circuit. It is possible Judge McGlynn’s injunction could be overturned in the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Justice Barrett might issue a temporary injunction for the Napierville case. She might expand the Napierville request to all the cases covered by Judge McGlynn. She might decide Judge McGlynn already has this covered. It might be to the benefit of everyone if the Supreme Court steps in now and makes a decision rather than wait for a possible appeals process.
Update: As of May 2nd, The Seventh Circuit has placed a stay on the injunction ordered by Judge McGlynn, asking for more information.
Some sources say the Napierville lawyers have been required to respond by Monday, May 8th. From Jonathanturley.org:
We recently discussed a federal judge enjoining the new Illinois law banning “assault weapons.” Now a gun shop in Naperville, Illinois has made it to the Supreme Court in seeking injunctive relief and Justice Amy Coney Barrett has given the proponents of the law until Monday to respond to the request.
Justice Barrett asking for more information suggests she is considering action rather than dismissing the request. We should learn more in the days ahead.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
