Supreme Court Rejects
Challenge to Assault Weapon Ban
Monday, 07 Dec 2015 11:37 AM
The Supreme Court on
Monday rejected a challenge by gun rights activists to a Chicago suburb's ordinance
banning assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, handing a victory to gun control advocates amid a fierce debate over the nation's
firearms laws.
The 2013 ordinance passed by the city of Highland Park, Ill.
will remain in place. By opting not to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling
that upheld the measure, the justices declined to take up what would have been
a high-profile gun rights case following a succession of mass shootings
including the one last week in San Bernardino, Calif.
The Highland Park measure bans various semi-automatic weapons,
including well-known guns such as the AR-15 and AK-47, in addition to magazines
holding more than 10 rounds of bullets.
Two conservatives on the nine-member court, Clarence Thomas
and Antonin Scalia, said the justices should have taken the case.
Thomas wrote a six-page dissent in which he said that
despite recent pro-gun rights rulings by the conservative-leaning high court,
several lower courts "have upheld categorical bans on firearms that
millions of Americans commonly own for lawful purposes."
The Constitution's Second Amendment guarantees the right to
bear arms, but there is a longstanding legal debate over its scope.
Semi-automatic rifles are popular, with the vast majority of
owners using them for lawful purposes, Thomas said. "Under our precedents,
that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second
Amendment to keep such weapons," he said.
In April, the Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
rejected the challenge to Highland Park's ordinance. Thomas said the high court
should have heard the appeal of that ruling in order to prevent that appeals
court "from relegating the Second Amendment to a second-class right."
The plaintiffs were gun owner Arie Friedman, a pediatrician,
and the Illinois State Rifle Association. The National Rifle Association, the
influential gun rights group, and 24 U.S. states urged the high court to hear
the case.
The Supreme Court has not taken up a major gun case since
2010. In the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller case, the court held for the
first time that the Second Amendment guaranteed an individual right to bear
arms, but the ruling applied only to firearms kept in the home for
self-defense. Two years later, in the case McDonald v. City of Chicago, the
court held that the earlier ruling applied to the states.
In defending the ban, Highland Park's lawyers noted that it
was enacted "following a series of tragic mass shootings across the
nation" including the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in
Newtown, Connecticut in which 20 young pupils and six adults were killed.
They also pointed out that seven states, including
California and New
York, have similar laws on the books.
A nationwide assault weapons ban law expired in 2004 when
the bitterly divided U.S. Congress failed to renew it, with many Republicans
opposing gun control measures. The federal law had barred the manufacture and
sale of semi-automatic guns with military-style features as well as magazines
holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
In his speech to the nation on Sunday night, President Barack Obama
noted that the husband-and-wife shooters who killed 14 people in San Bernardino
had stockpiled assault weapons and ammunition. Obama called for new limits on
assault weapons.
7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
David F. Hamilton
is the judge for the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the 7th Circuit,
Lee H. Hamilton’s
nephew, and was the canvasser for the Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
Note: Lee H. Hamilton is
David F. Hamilton’s uncle, a member
of the Homeland Security Advisory
Council, an honorary trustee at the Brookings
Institution (think tank), and was a co-chair for the Iraq Study Group.
Annise
Parker is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun
Control” group for guns.
John
R. Allen is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, and a fellow at the Brookings Institution (think tank).
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Brookings Institution
(think tank), and the Urban
Institute (think tank).
George Soros
was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Cyrus F.
Freidheim Jr. is an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), and a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Rahm
I. Emanuel is a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, the Chicago (IL) mayor,
and was the White House chief of staff for the Barack Obama administration.
Video released of Chicago teen Laquan McDonald being shot
16 times by Officer Jason Van Dyke - WARNING GRAPHIC VIDEO
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/video-released-laquan-mcdonald-shot-16-times-article-1.2445914
Chicago
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy (r.) and Mayor Rahm Emanuel discuss the
graphic video at a press conference Tuesday evening.
R.
Eden Martin is the president of the Commercial
Club of Chicago, and counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP.
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, and the attorney in ACORN vs.
Illinois State Board of Elections.
Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was the plaintiff in ACORN
vs. Illinois State Board of Elections.
Sidley Austin
LLP was the legal adviser for the Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
Newton
N. Minow is a senior counsel at Sidley
Austin LLP, and a member of the Commercial
Club of Chicago.
Valerie B. Jarrett
is a member of the Commercial Club of
Chicago, the senior adviser for the Barack
Obama administration, her great uncle is Vernon E. Jordan Jr, and was a director at the Joyce Foundation.
Joyce Foundation
was a funder for the Brady Center to
Prevent Gun Violence.
Brady
Center to Prevent Gun Violence is a “Gun
Safety, Gun Control” group for guns.
Vernon E. Jordan
Jr. is Valerie B.
Jarrett’s great uncle, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution
(think tank), a
director at the American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), the president
emeritus at the Robert Trent Jones Golf
Club (Gainesville, VA), a life trustee at the Urban Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
John G. Roberts
Jr. is an honorary member of the Robert
Trent Jones Golf Club (Gainesville, VA), and the chief justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.
Warren E. Buffett
is a life trustee at the Urban Institute
(think tank), and an advisory board member for Everytown for Gun Safety.
Everytown
for Gun Safety is a “Gun Safety, Gun
Control” group for guns.
Michael R.
Bloomberg is the founder of Everytown
for Gun Safety, and was a New York
(NY) mayor.
Annise
Parker is an advisory board member for Everytown
for Gun Safety, and a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council.
Lee
H. Hamilton is a member of the Homeland
Security Advisory Council, an honorary trustee at the Brookings Institution (think tank), David F. Hamilton’s uncle, and was a co-chair for the Iraq Study Group.
David F. Hamilton
is Lee H. Hamilton’s nephew, the
judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the 7th Circuit, and was the canvasser for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
Sidley Austin
LLP was the legal adviser for the Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).
Barack
Obama was an intern at Sidley Austin
LLP, and the attorney in ACORN vs.
Illinois State Board of Elections.
Association
of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was the plaintiff in ACORN
vs. Illinois State Board of Elections.
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