Plaintiffs take Cook County gun ban challenge to SCOTUS

By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Plaintiffs challenging Cook County’s ban on semi-automatic firearms are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case.

Filed in 2021, Viramontes v. Cook County challenges the county’s ordinance banning certain firearms. The lower courts sided with the county and against the plaintiffs. Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb said the case is ready for the nation’s highest court.

“Our position is the right delayed is a right denied and so any case that we can get to the Supreme Court the quickest, is the one we’re going to push,” Gottlieb told The Center Square.

The request comes less than a month before the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is set to hear oral arguments in a challenge to the statewide ban after a district judge found the law unconstitutional.

“The Supreme Court has indicated its interest in addressing assault weapons bans in the next term or two and we think this is a solid vehicle for that review,” he said.

Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker reacted to the mass shooting at a Catholic mass in Minneapolis where two children were killed and 18 others injured. He said there are too many guns on the streets.

“There are kids and adults who need mental health and substance use treatment who are often the people who ultimately they can get ahold of guns, we’ve got to stop that, but they can get ahold of guns and then commit these terrible crimes,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Chicago.

Illinois is defending the statewide gun ban Pritzker enacted in 2023. A federal district judge found the law unconstitutional. Part of the defense the state has presented on appeal is unprecedented societal concerns over mass shootings.

Gottlieb said that argument won’t stand.

“It’s a constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Just because there’s concerns in society, doesn’t mean you shred the constitution,” he said. “You wouldn’t do that on First Amendment grounds and you shouldn’t do it on Second Amendment grounds either.”

Appeals court oral arguments in the statewide ban are scheduled for Sept. 22 in Chicago. It’s unclear if the Supreme Court will take up the county ban challenge.