On Monday, the United States Supreme Court declined to take the appeal of the case of Friedman v. City of Highland Park. We previously reported on this case and its impact on several Illinois municipalities, as well as similar firearm regulations in several other states.
Two justices, Thomas and Scalia, issued a dissent from the Court’s denial of the petition for writ of certiorari. The dissent directly argues that the divided Seventh Circuit’s decision in Friedman runs contrary to Supreme Court precedent established in recent Second Amendment cases. One such case, McDonald v. Chicago, eventually led to Illinois enacting the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, 430 ILCS 66. As the dissent argued:
“The City’s ban is [] highly suspect because it broadly prohibits common semiautomatic fire-arms used for lawful purposes. Roughly five million Americans own AR-style semiautomatic rifles. The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting. Under our precedents, that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second Amendment to keep such weapons.”
For reference, as least four of the nine Supreme Court justices are needed to grant a petition for writ of certiorari.
Author: Brad Stewart