Pritzker: ruling a victory in fight to end gun violence
The ruling by the Seventh Circuit reverses a lower court decision that had struck down the law. The appellate panel wrote that the restrictions are “consistent with the principles that underpin our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.”
“Whether to adopt them is thus a decision reposed in our elected representatives, and we reverse,” the appeals court said.
The majority opinion also pushed back on arguments from plaintiffs challenging the ban, who asserted that semiautomatic weapons are not responsible for mass shootings. “The undisputed record evidence undercuts that claim, showing that the presence of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines is strongly correlated with the severity of the societal problem,” the opinion stated.
Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker said in a post on X that the decision is “a victory in the fight to end gun violence that helps keep our communities safe.”