While the NRA is lauding today’s ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals–which strikes down the Illinois ban on concealed weapons and orders the legislature to pass a law allowing for it within 180 days–the ruling is terrible.
(1) Like the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision in 2004 regarding gay “marriage”, it is yet another case of the Judicial branch of government usurping the power of the Legislative branch. This is not a check-and-balance; it is a power grab.
(2) The Court has made a ruling that makes the exercise of Constitutional rights contingent on an act of the Legislative branch.
What the Court SHOULD have done:
(1) Strike down the Illinois ban as Unconstitutional;
(2) Affirm that (a) the 2nd Amendment allows for BOTH open AND concealed carry, (b) the rights are not dependent on an act of the Legislature, and (c) in accordance with the 14th Amendment, they can only be revoked through DUE PROCESS OF THE LAW.
“While the NRA is lauding today’s ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals–which strikes down the Illinois ban on concealed weapons and orders the legislature to pass a law allowing for it within 180 days–the ruling is terrible.”
Half the news articles I’ve read got this wrong. The court struck down the ban as unconstitutional. But they didn’t order anyone to do anything. They simply stayed the ruling for 180 days to allow the Illinois Legislature to pass a new carry law that isn’t unconstitutional. From pages 20 and 21 of the opinion:
“The Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment therefore compels us to reverse the decisions in the two cases before us and remand them to their respective district courts for the entry of declarations of unconstitutionality and permanent injunctions. Nevertheless we order our mandate stayed for 180 days to allow the Illinois legislature to craft a new gun law that will impose reasonable limitations, consistent with the public safety and the Second Amendment as interpreted in this opinion, on the carrying of guns in public.”