Supreme Court Allows Cook County Assault Weapons Ban To Stand

CHICAGO — Among the opinions and orders issued Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court was a decision not to hear a challenge to the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban, Cook County's 2007 ordinance allowing for steep fines on those who possess certain semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns without authorization.

The ban was upheld in August 2019 by a unanimous three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. The decision in the case — Wilson v. Cook County, et al. — was appealed with the support of the Second Amendment Foundation and the Illinois State Rifle Association. But the Supreme Court declined to reconsider the decision.

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said she was proud of the work of her office's civil division in fending off the challenge over the past 13 years.

"Today's Supreme Court decision was a huge victory in the battle to keep our communities safe and dangerous weapons off the streets," Foxx said.

"We will continue to use the power of this office as we work for justice and fairness for everyone in communities across Cook County," she added.

Alan Gottlieb, founder and executive vice president of the Second Amendment foundation, issued a statement saying there was "no excuse" why the Supreme Court failed to rule on any major Second Amendment cases this term, although a firearm confiscation case from California called Rodriguez v. San Jose remains pending.

"The Supreme Court's refusal to take a Second Amendment Foundation case falls squarely at the feet of Chief Justice John Roberts," Gottlieb said. "He owes every gun owner in the United States an explanation about why the high court declined to hear a number of important Second Amendment cases."

The challenge to the county's ordinance was originally filed in 2007 by three Cook County residents — Matthew Wilson, Troy Edhlund and Joseph Messineo. The next year, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark District of Columbia v. Heller opinion establishing the Second Amendment right to keep guns in one's house.

In subsequent years, the challenge worked its way up to the Illinois Supreme Court, but after a 2015 decision in Friedman v. Highland Park upheld the city's assault weapons ban, Wilson's challenge was refiled and moved to federal court, where judges rejected it at every level.

Any four justices of the U.S. Supreme Court could have decided to accept the petition for certiorari. They did not. Nor did any justice write a dissent to the denial, unlike in the Friedman case five years ago or Monday's denial of certiorari for Rogers v. Grewal — a Second Amendment challenge to New Jersey's gun licensing scheme where Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh dissented from the decision not to hear the case.

Unlike Highland Park, Cook County has never enforced its assault weapons ban. Since both are local ordinances rather than state laws, there are no criminal penalties associated with violations — only fines. A spokesperson for Foxx's office said last October that attorneys were prepared to prosecute ordinance violations once legal challenges to the ordinance were resolved. No word on whether the office plans to begin enforcing the ordinance was immediately available from her office Monday.

The Deerfield Village Board passed a similar ordinance in April 2018. A Lake County judge sided with a pair of challenges in March 2019. An initial appeal was tossed on procedural grounds in June 2019 but later refiled, and the 2nd District Illinois Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case Tuesday.

Read more: Cook County Assault Weapons Ban Upheld By Federal Appeals Court