The US Supreme Court refused to block Illinois’ assault weapon and high-capacity magazine ban on Thursday. This decision comes after the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit allowed the ban to go into effect in November. In a one-page order the Supreme Court stated, “The application for a writ of injunction pending certiorari presented to Justice Barrett and by her referred to the Court is denied.” The court also declined to block the ban in May.

In response to the order, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul stated, “The Assault Weapons Ban is an essential part in addressing gun violence in our communities. I’m pleased the court denied the application for an injunction, and I remain committed to defending the constitutionality of the ban.”

After the Seventh Circuit’s ruling, The National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR), Illinois gun retailer Law Weapons & Supply and its owner Robert Bevis asked the Supreme Court to block the ban. NAGR and Bevis claimed that Illinois’s law, the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA), violates the Second Amendment of the US Constitution and should therefore be declared invalid. In particular, NAGR and Bevis pointed to the Supreme Court’s decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which struck down a New York gun permit law and established stricter standards for state legislatures to constitutionally regulate gun ownership. 

In a 2-1 majority opinion, the Seventh Circuit found that the Second Amendment’s “plain text” of the term “Arms” does not include weapons reserved for military use—which is what the ban prohibits. Thus, the court concluded that “military weapons lie outside the class of Arms to which the individual right applies.” The court also found that the Bruen decision does not invalidate the Illinois law.

Earlier this year, Illinois Governor Pritzker signed the challenged PICA into law after the Fourth of July shooting in Highland Park in 2022. The law instituted a statewide ban on the sale and manufacture of assault rifles. PICA prohibits the sale and manufacturing of assault weapon attachments, .50 caliber cartridges, any .50 caliber rifle and certain pistols. PICA defines assault rifles as any rifle that carries more than 15 rounds of ammunition. Pistols that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition are also banned. Lastly, under PICA, anyone who was already in possession of newly outlawed weapons had until October 1 to report their ownership to the state government.

Gun distributors also challenged PICA in state court, and an Illinois state judge ruled that PICA violated the Illinois Constitution. However, the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the ruling in August.