REUTERS/Cheney Orr/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsNov 3 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld an Illinois state ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines enacted after a 2022 mass shooting in Chicago's Highland Park suburb that left seven people dead and dozens more wounded.
The Democratic-backed state measure bans the sale and distribution of many kinds of high-powered semiautomatic "assault weapons," including AK-47 and AR-15 rifles, and large-capacity magazines.
In one notable aspect of its reasoning in upholding the Illinois law, the appellate panel cited a U.S. Supreme Court opinion last year that struck down New York state's limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home.
In August, a divided Illinois Supreme Court upheld the assault weapons ban in a separate case brought at the state court level, rejecting arguments that the law violated the state constitution by not applying the ban equally to all citizens.
Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California's assault weapons ban would remain in force while the state attorney general appealed a lower-court decision declaring that 30-year-old measure unconstitutional.
Persons:
Cheney Orr, Diane Wood, Bill Clinton, Wood, Judge Frank Easterbook, Ronald Reagan, Michael Brennan, Donald Trump, Steve Gorman, Nate Raymond, Jamie Freed
Organizations:
REUTERS, U.S, Circuit, Democratic, AK, District of Columbia, Appeals, Thomson
Locations:
Chicago, Highland Park , Illinois, U.S, Illinois, Highland, New York, District, Los Angeles, Boston