DOJ Says AR-15s, Ammo Magazines Protected by Second Amendment in Seventh Circuit Brief

The Division of Justice (DOJ) simply urged the Seventh Circuit Courtroom of Appeals to strike down Illinois’s “assault weapon” and journal restrictions.

In a short filed late final week, the DOJ requested the court docket to increase Second Modification protections to ammunition magazines, AR-15s, and different firearms focused by the state’s ban. The DOJ argued the court docket ought to reverse its earlier evaluation upholding the state’s ban on what it labelled “militaristic“ weapons in 2023’s Bevis v. Metropolis of Naperville. The transient mentioned the appeals court docket ought to as an alternative facet with the district court docket that originally blocked the regulation.

“As a result of the Act is a complete ban on a class of firearms which are in frequent use by law-abiding residents for lawful causes, it’s flatly unconstitutional,” the DOJ wrote in its amicus transient in Barnett v. Raoul. “This Courtroom ought to affirm the district court docket’s injunction.”

The DOJ launched the transient within the wake of the Supreme Courtroom’s choice to disclaim cert to Snope v. Brown, a case difficult Maryland’s “assault weapon” ban. The Supreme Courtroom has but to deal with whether or not AR-15s or different firearms whose gross sales are often outlawed by such bans take pleasure in constitutional protections. The transient represents a shift within the DOJ’s view of the problem since President Donald Trump returned to workplace, with the division now arguing that the weapons are protected, following an order to assessment its place on the matter.

“President Donald J. Trump has instructed his Administration to ‘shield the Second Modification rights of all People,” the DOJ defined within the transient. “Lawyer Common Pamela Bondi has likewise instructed the Division of Justice to make use of its full may to guard the Second Modification rights of law-abiding residents.”

Assault weapons bans, which usually outlaw the sale of semi-automatic firearms able to accepting removable magazines and containing a set variety of regulated ergonomic or beauty options, have been adopted by 9 states and the District of Columbia. They’ve lengthy been on the middle of the political struggle over American gun legal guidelines, particularly since they aim one of the vital fashionable firearms within the nation: The AR-15.

The AR-15 is a light-weight, semi-automatic rifle that has dominated the gross sales market and public consideration for many years. Latest polling from The Washington Publish and Ipsos signifies roughly 1 in 20, or 16 million, People personal an AR-15.

In 2023, Illinois handed a ban on AR-15s and different so-called assault weapons. The state defines assault weapon as “a semiautomatic rifle that has the capability to simply accept a removable journal or that could be readily modified to simply accept a removable journal” wit at the least one of many following: pistol grip, thumbhole inventory, protunding grip, folding inventory, telescoping inventory, detatchable inventory, flash suppressor, grenade launcher, or shroud. New gross sales of firearms that match the outline, together with the AR-15, are banned beneath the regulation.

Gun-rights advocates instantly challenged the regulation, which has been blocked and upheld by totally different state and federal courts ever since. Now, the DOJ is leaping in on their facet.

“The AR-15 is the preferred civilian rifle in America and is utilized by tens of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding People for lawful causes,” performing Affiliate Lawyer Common Chad Mizelle, who filed the transient, posted on social media. “Whole bans on AR-15s are a flagrant violation of the Second Modification. At the moment, the Division of Justice filed an Amicus Transient telling the Seventh Circuit that Illinois’ regulation banning AR-15s is unconstitutional beneath the Second Modification.”

The DOJ’s involvement hasn’t persuaded backers of the ban, although. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) defended his state’s regulation in a press convention on Monday.

“They clearly don’t perceive the harm that’s being carried out throughout the nation the place there aren’t any assault weapons bans,” he mentioned. “They’re wrongheaded on so many issues, however that is one more of these.”

The DOJ’s transient outlined the division’s authorized argument in opposition to the bans primarily based on the recognition of AR-15s, current Supreme Courtroom statements, and the concept historical past exhibits “militaristic“ firearms are constitutionally protected. It inspired the Seventh Circuit to use Second Modification protections to the weapons, asking it to think about current statements made by the Supreme Courtroom Justices who dissented within the denial of Snope.

“First, as defined beneath, key facets of Bevis’s evaluation are fallacious, even judged in opposition to the Supreme Courtroom’s Second Modification caselaw that existed on the time,” the DOJ wrote. “Second, a number of Supreme Courtroom Justices (together with Bruen’s writer) have since made it clear that they disagree with Bevis and different current lower-court opinions, and that the Courtroom is prone to grant certiorari ‘within the subsequent Time period or two’ to deal with the errors in these opinions.“ 

Within the Snope denial, Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh each forged doubt on the constitutionality of AR-15 bans. Kavanaugh, who voted in opposition to taking over the case, mentioned the Supreme Courtroom would take up a problem to an AR ban case sooner fairly than later.

“This case primarily considerations Maryland’s ban on the AR–15, a semi-automatic rifle. People right this moment possess an estimated 20 to 30 million AR–15s,” he wrote. “And AR–15s are authorized in 41 of the 50 States, that means that the States corresponding to Maryland that prohibit AR–15s are one thing of an outlier. Provided that hundreds of thousands of People personal AR–15s and {that a} vital majority of the States permit possession of these rifles, petitioners have a robust argument that AR–15s are in ‘frequent use’ by law-abiding residents and due to this fact are protected by the Second Modification beneath Heller.”

Kavanaugh outright questioned the legitimacy of the decrease court docket’s choice upholding Maryland’s ban, which is similar to the one enacted by Illinois.

“In brief, beneath this Courtroom’s precedents, the Fourth Circuit’s choice is questionable,” he wrote. “Though the Courtroom right this moment denies certiorari, a denial of certiorari doesn’t imply that the Courtroom agrees with a lower-court choice or that the problem just isn’t worthy of assessment.”

DOJ additionally rejected the declare that “militaristic“ firearms should not “arms“ beneath the Second Modification, saying that the Seventh Circuit panel’s earlier holding “fails as a matter of textual content, historical past, and precedent.”

“Though the militia-related objective introduced within the Second Modification’s prefatory clause just isn’t ‘the one cause People valued the traditional proper‘ to maintain and bear arms, the prefatory clause’s textual content did seize ‘the aim for which the proper was codified,‘ which was ‘to stop elimination of the militia,‘” the DOJ wrote of their transient. “The opposite declare that ‘militaristic’ weapons fall exterior its scope wrongly requires studying the prefatory clause totally out of the Second Modification.”

The DOJ challenged the concept the weapons Illinois banned match beneath the “harmful and weird” class.

“AR-15s additionally should not ‘harmful,’ at the least as that time period is utilized in Second Modification caselaw,” the DOJ wrote within the transient. “After all, all firearms are ‘harmful’ in some sense.”

The DOJ mentioned that dangerousness is simply related if the firearm rises to the extent of being “uniquely harmful” or “particularly harmful.” The DOJ claimed the AR-15 is neither of these issues, because the means they perform is just like different firearms, corresponding to handguns.

“There isn’t a significant … distinction between semi-automatic handguns and semi-automatic rifles,” the DOJ wrote. It additional argued it could “pressure logic and customary sense to conclude that the Second Modification protects semi-automatic handguns however doesn’t shield semi-automatic rifles.”

The DOJ made related arguments concerning the ammunition journal ban. It pointed to the recognition of the magazines Illinois has banned.

“So-called ‘large-capacity magazines’ are extraordinarily frequent in the US,” the DOJ wrote. “‘People have of their arms and houses an estimated 100 million … magazines’ that maintain greater than ten rounds of ammunition.”

Finally, it got here to the identical conclusion: Illinois’s ban is unconstitutional.

“As a result of the Act bans the possession of magazines and different firearm attachments which are in frequent use by law-abiding residents for lawful causes, it violates the Second Modification,” the division wrote.