Seventh Circuit upholds Illinois assault-weapons ban as Supreme Court review looms
A divided federal appeals court has upheld Illinois’ assault-weapons and large-capacity-magazine restrictions, reversing a lower-court ruling that had blocked enforcement of the state law.
In a 2-1 decision issued July 9, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ruled in Barnett v. Raoul and three consolidated appeals that the Protect Illinois Communities Act is consistent with the historical principles underlying the Second Amendment. The decision leaves the restrictions enforceable in Illinois while related constitutional challenges continue.
What the appeals court decided
The Seventh Circuit reversed a Southern District of Illinois judgment that had declared major portions of the law unconstitutional and enjoined enforcement of the Act in its entirety. Reversing that judgment removed the legal basis for the injunction.
The majority’s analysis focused especially on AR-15s and 30-round rifle magazines. It held that restrictions on those items fit within the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation and addressed what the judges characterized as a distinctively modern technological and public-safety problem.
The court’s decision applies to the Illinois law and the cases before the Seventh Circuit. It is not a nationwide ruling, and it does not by itself settle the constitutionality of similar laws in other states.
What Illinois law covers
The Protect Illinois Communities Act generally prohibits the manufacture, sale, delivery, purchase and possession of specified assault weapons. The law covers certain semiautomatic rifles, pistols and shotguns, listed models including the AR-15, specified attachments, certain .50-caliber rifles and ammunition, and devices designed to increase a semiautomatic firearm’s rate of fire.
The Act also restricts large-capacity ammunition-feeding devices. The thresholds described in the Seventh Circuit’s opinion are more than 10 rounds for rifles and shotguns and more than 15 rounds for handguns.
The law includes grandfathering provisions for some people who lawfully possessed covered items before the restrictions took effect. For certain weapons, attachments and .50-caliber items, preexisting owners generally had to meet an endorsement-affidavit requirement. Preexisting owners of covered magazines have different statutory rules, including location-related restrictions.
The appellate ruling does not eliminate those requirements or create a general permission to buy, sell or possess every firearm or magazine covered by the statute. Owners, prospective buyers and dealers should rely on current Illinois law and official guidance for category-specific requirements.
The dissent’s argument
Chief Judge Michael Brennan disagreed with the majority’s constitutional analysis. His dissent pointed to trial evidence that millions of Americans own AR-15-style rifles and argued that the weapons and large-capacity magazines are commonly owned and used for lawful self-defense.
The dissent argued that the majority applied a historical framework that is broader than the Supreme Court’s recognized “dangerous and unusual” analysis. Under that view, AR-15-style rifles and their magazines receive stronger Second Amendment protection because they are commonly owned for lawful purposes and cannot be categorically prohibited simply because the state considers them especially dangerous.
The disagreement leaves a clear split within the panel over how courts should apply the Supreme Court’s historical-tradition test to modern semiautomatic rifles and magazines.
Why the Supreme Court matters next
The ruling comes as the Supreme Court prepares to consider related challenges to assault-weapons restrictions. On June 30, the justices announced that they would hear cases involving Connecticut and the Chicago area, setting up a major examination of how the Second Amendment applies to modern semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity magazines.
That review is separate from Barnett v. Raoul. The Supreme Court has not been identified as granting review of the Seventh Circuit case itself. A separate Illinois petition, Schoenthal v. Raoul, was denied on April 6, 2026, according to the Supreme Court docket.
For now, Illinois’ restrictions remain in force, subject to the law’s statutory exceptions and grandfathering rules. The broader question—whether similar bans satisfy the Supreme Court’s historical-tradition test—will turn on the court’s forthcoming review of the related cases.
Sources
- Seventh Circuit majority opinion in Barnett v. Raoul
- Supreme Court docket in Schoenthal v. Raoul
- Associated Press report on Supreme Court review
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