Katie Kerekes, FISM News
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Plaintiffs in an ongoing lawsuit challenging Illinois’ recently passed prohibitive gun legislation are asking the Supreme Court to issue an injunction against the law as the case moves through the appeal process.
House Bill 5471 was signed into law in January, prohibiting the “manufacture or possession of dozens of common rapid-fire rifles, pistols, and .50-caliber guns” and limiting the size of magazines, according to a previous report from FISM.
The lawsuit, filed by Naperville gun store owner Robert Bevis and other plaintiffs, originally challenged the city’s firearm and magazine ban but was amended to include the state legislation after it passed.
Following a ruling by U.S. district judge Virginia Kendall in favor of the city and state, and against a requested injunction, plaintiffs filed an injunction request Wednesday to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Calling the bill’s constitutionality into question, the motion cited the recent SCOTUS ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, which found that the Second Amendment protects all instruments that constitute bearable arms.
Despite this ruling, several lawsuits are pending in courts across the nation.
The state of Washington faces at least two lawsuits from gun rights groups following three gun control bills signed into law Tuesday by Democratic Governor Jay Inslee.
Similar to the Illinois legislation, House Bill 1240 bans “the manufacturing and sale of dozens of types of semiautomatic rifles,” according to the Daily Wire.
“This new law is blatantly unconstitutional. The Supreme Court long ago ruled that states cannot ban firearms that are in common use,” said Aoibheann Cline, director of the NRA’s lobbying operations in Washington state.
Passed alongside HB1240 were HB1143 and SB5078, the latter of which gives the Washington Attorney General power to “punish gun manufacturers for criminal misuse of their product.”
Gun rights activists maintain such legislation serves to disproportionately penalize law-abiding citizens and fails to properly deter criminal activity.
Founder and Executive Vice President of the Second Amendment Foundation Alan Gottlieb accused the state of criminalizing the semiautomatic rifle, which he argues is “a common and important means of self-defense.”
“The state has put politics ahead of constitutional rights, and is penalizing law-abiding citizens while this legislation does nothing to arrest and prosecute criminals who misuse firearms in defiance of all existing gun control laws.”