Appeals court upholds Illinois semiautomatic weapons ban after Highland Park shooting

A federal appeals court in Chicago upheld Illinois’ semiautomatic weapons ban, keeping in force a law passed after the Highland Park parade shooting killed seven people and wounded 48. The 2-1 ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversed a lower-court decision that had found the ban unconstitutional and put Illinois squarely back in the national battle over how far the Second Amendment reaches after the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision.

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act on January 10, 2023, and the law took effect immediately. The Illinois State Police says it regulates assault weapons, high-capacity magazines and switches, giving the state one of the most sweeping bans in the country on firearms and accessories tied to mass-casualty attacks.

The law traces directly to the Highland Park Independence Day parade shooting on July 4, 2022, about 15 minutes after the parade began. Authorities said the gunman fired from a rooftop with an AR-15-style rifle, leaving seven dead and 48 people wounded by bullets or shrapnel. That attack became the political and legal foundation for the state’s response, and it continues to shape arguments over whether elected officials can restrict weapons associated with mass shootings.

The Seventh Circuit majority said Illinois’ restrictions fit within the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation. The dissent took the opposite view, arguing the Constitution protects firearms commonly owned for self-defense and that the public has overwhelmingly chosen AR-15-style rifles. The court also said the record undercut the claim that assault weapons are irrelevant to mass shootings, pointing to the link between assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and greater harm when shootings occur.

The ruling matters far beyond Illinois because the U.S. Supreme Court is already poised to consider similar state assault-weapon bans. In Harrel v. Raoul, docketed in February 2024 and later denied review on July 2, 2024, Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that if the Seventh Circuit ultimately allowed Illinois to ban America’s most common civilian rifle, the court could and should revisit the issue once the cases reached final judgment.

Pritzker cast the decision as a public-safety victory, while the firearms trade group challenging the ban signaled it would seek Supreme Court review. The broader challenge has included Dane Harrel, C4 Gun Store LLC, Marengo Guns Inc., the Illinois State Rifle Association, the Firearms Policy Coalition and the Second Amendment Foundation, a lineup that shows how deeply the case has tied together gun owners, retailers and advocacy groups in the next phase of the post-Bruen fight.