The Latest Breaking News from Second Amendment

CHICAGO — Illinois’ flagship gun rights organization on Tuesday filed a federal lawsuit alleging the newly signed state law that prohibits high-powered guns and large-capacity ammunition magazines violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The Illinois State Rifle Association lawsuit appears to be the first in federal court to challenge Illinois’ new weapons ban, but it is part of a burgeoning legal effort aimed at undoing the new law. Other lawsuits have been filed in state court.

It was bad enough when, last June, an activist Supreme Court majority that comically calls itself conservative invalidated a century-old New York law restricting the concealed carry of firearms. Now the same majority could use its so-called shadow docket to override a federal appeals court and shoot down the state…

The panel opinion, which has now been vacated (as is always done when the court agrees to hear a case en banc) is here (Range v. Attorney General); here's a quick summary of the result of that panel opinion: Based on history and tradition, we conclude that "the people" constitutionally…

A federal judge ruled earlier this year that a state law banning young adults from publicly carrying handguns is unconstitutional. The state no longer plans to appeal that ruling.

From Miller v. Bonta, decided today by Judge Roger Benitez (S.D. Cal.): "It is cynical." "It is an abomination." "It is outrageous and objectionable." "There is no dispute that it raises serious constitutional questions." "It is an unprecedented attempt to thwart judicial review." Such are the Intervenor-Defendant Governor's expressed views…

From U.S. v. Reyna, decided yesterday by Judge Robert Miller, Jr. (N.D. Ind.) (for a case reaching the opposite result, see this post): The Heller Court made clear that the Second Amendment excludes "those weapons not typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes." This limit on the Second Amendment…

In historical inquiry, reasoning by analogy is a commonplace task for any lawyer or judge.

Courts, not “experts,” should say what the law is.