Attorney General Labrador Leads 27 States Encouraging SCOTUS Overturn Gun and Magazine Ban in Illinois

[BOISE] - Attorneys General Raúl Labrador of Idaho and Todd Rokita of Indiana led 26 other states in filing a brief with the United States Supreme Court challenging Illinois' unconstitutional ban of AR-15 rifles and their standard 30-round magazines.

"This ruling from the Seventh Circuit flies in the face of the Bruen decision and the Second Amendment's unqualified command," said Attorney General Labrador. "To restrict an inanimate object based on nothing more than cosmetic appearance is absurd, and the Supreme Court needs to make this right with all expediency."

The Seventh Circuit's decision in Barnett v. Raoul found the Illinois gun ban constitutional, holding that the plain language of the Second Amendment and the term "Arms" does not apply to AR-15s because of their militaristic appearance. The Seventh Circuit's decision lacks any textual or historical basis. In fact, the arms the Second Amendment originally protected were those used in military combat. The Seventh Circuit's analysis bears no resemblance to the analysis prescribed by the Supreme Court of the United States.

The brief asks the Supreme Court to grant certiorari and correct the Seventh Circuit's erroneous decision, arguing that "[e]ven apart from having no basis in the text of the Second Amendment, the Seventh Circuit's artificial divide between "militaristic" firearms and firearms used for self-defense is indefensible."

This brief was also joined by Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wyoming, and the State Legislatures of Arizona and Wisconsin.