Gun rights activists moved to challenge the 2013 assault weapons ban passed in Highland Park, Illinois but the United States Court upheld the ordinance. The move encouraged gun-control advocates but fired up several gun rights groups.
According to Reuters, the United States Supreme Court upheld a ban against assault weapons on Monday, December 7. The move came after gun rights activists challenged a Chicago suburb's ordinance for the strict control of firearms.
An ordinance passed on 2013 in Highland Park, Illinois bans several semi-automatic weapons including commonly known weapons such as the AR-15 and AK-47 assault-style weapons as well as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds of bullets. Illinois currently bans the sale, distribution, purchase and possession of said firearms.
Gun rights groups and advocates, specifically the Illinois State Rifle Association, filed a lawsuit to challenge Highland Park's ordinance saying that these weapons are in no way unusual and are very much popular among the mainstream public. According to NBC News, the group said the AR-15 is one of the bestselling firearm types in the country. Lawyers also urged the Supreme Court to scrap the ordinance since these weapons are allegedly protected by state laws.
The same gun control bans are also in effect in surrounding states including California, New York, Maryland, New Jersey and Hawaii. Highland Park lawyers defended the ban stating that it was passed "following a series of tragic mass shootings across the nation". Several gun related incidents were products of firearms allegedly acquired legally, such as the recent mass shootings in San Bernardino, California.
According to CNN, two conservatives of the high-member court, justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, should have taken the case challenging the ordinance. Thomas wrote, "Because noncompliance with our Second Amendment precedents warrants this Court's attention as much as any of our precedents, I would grant certiorari in this case."
The Supreme Court refused to dive into the current gun debate dividing the country but acknowledged the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment guaranteeing its citizens the right to bear arms. The scope at which assault weapons are defined and regulated vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
