In a 2-1 ruling Friday, a federal appeals court declined to block enforcement of the state’s assault weapon ban as well as similar local ordinances, saying the rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution are not absolute.
The judges sided with two lower court decisions from the Chicago area but overturned the ruling of a federal court in southern Illinois, stating that the plaintiffs “have not shown the likelihood of success on the merits, based on the fact that military weapons lie outside the class of arms to which the individual right applies.”
“The Second Amendment to the Constitution recognizes an individual right to ‘keep and bear Arms.’ Of that there can be no doubt,” the majority opinion began, citing a string of recent Supreme Court cases. “But as we know from long experience with other…
