According to Fox News, GOA and its sister group, the Gun Owners Foundation, filed a petition for certiorari with the high court on Monday. It disputed the legality of the so-called Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA), which enacted a broad ban on many popular sporting rifles.
GOA attorneys asserted that the prohibition defied the clear intent of the Supreme Court by prohibiting a vast array of commonly owned weapons and ammunition magazines.
Senior Vice President Erich Pratt said GOA led the challenge even when the Illinois law was still only a proposal. He explained that while the group did not intend to take legal action all the way up to the high court, they were prepared to if necessary.
Pratt told Fox News, “We urge the Justices to hear the pleas of millions of Americans in Illinois and several other states nationwide who cannot purchase many of the commonly owned semi-automatic firearms available today because of the unconstitutional laws passed by anti-gun politicians.”
PICA, which was signed into law last year by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D), enacted harsh punishments for the possession, manufacture, sale and importation of what anti-gun advocates mistakenly call “assault weapons.”
The edict also includes .50-caliber rifles and standard ammo magazines.
The path through the courts for challengers of the anti-gun law has been winding.
District Judge Stephen Patrick McGlynn ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against the state last year. He determined that PICA violated the Second Amendment and put the law on hold.
But that victory was short-lived as the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his ruling. This enabled the controversial statute to take effect on Jan. 10.
The law further mandated that current owners of the now-banned firearms register their weapons with the Illinois State Police. To say that this requirement met with resistance is to put it mildly.
Very few Illinois residents complied, and the overwhelming majority rejected handing over their private information to the state and thus contributing to a ready-made gun registry.
Illinois has over 2.4 million Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cardholders, and only a tiny fraction registered their weapons by the deadline. The number was so small that state officials kept the registry period open in the vain hope that gun owners would change their minds and fall in line.
Not all FOID cardholders own semi-automatic weapons, but the overwhelming popularity of these firearms means that a vast number do and only a small percentage complied.
Sam Paredes, a Gun Owners Foundation board member, told Fox News that supporters of gun rights are encouraged by the filing before the high court. Though the governor and like-minded lawmakers struck a blow against constitutional freedoms, he believes justices will see their actions as defiance of the clear guidance from the bench.
“We are optimistic the justices will choose to hear the case and make clear once and for all that ‘assault weapons’ bans on tens of millions of commonly owned rifles are wholly out of line with the Second Amendment.”
There is much reason for cautious optimism among gun owners and Second Amendment advocates. While hardly a rubber stamp bench, the current Supreme Court generally shows fairness in determining gun rights issues.
GOA and its supporters will not be the only parties closely watching the high court.
A favorable decision for owners of popular sporting rifles would have ripple effects across the landscape and challenge similar laws in other states.
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