Criminals routinely carry guns anywhere they want, regardless of what the law says. In most cases, they’re breaking the law just by having the gun in the first place, so why would they hesitate to break still more laws?
Yet in Illinois, they figured that public transportation needed to be safer, and the way to do that was to ban the lawful carry of guns on it, because criminals obey laws and staff.
In reality, it would only impact the law-abiding citizens.
So, the state got sued over the ban.
The Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition joined forces on the lawsuit, where the state didn’t do what it needed to do to keep the law in place.
Judge Iain D. Johnston said, “After an exhaustive review of the parties’ filings and the historical record, as required by Supreme Court precedent, the Court finds that Defendants failed to meet their burden to show an American tradition of firearm regulation at the time of the Founding that would allow Illinois to prohibit Plaintiffs—who hold concealed-carry permits—from carrying concealed handguns for self-defense onto the CTA and Metra.”
In other words, Bruen saved the day.
“This is a significant victory for legally-armed Illinois residents who rely on public transit,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb via a press release. “It is important that the court recognized Cook County Attorney Foxx’s argument that the ban was legal because Illinois is acting as a property owner was ‘breathtaking, jaw-dropping and eyepopping,’ and that wasn’t a compliment. It demonstrates how far government will reach in an attempt to justify its effort to restrict Second Amendment rights.”
“This is one more step in SAF’s mission to win firearms freedom, one lawsuit at a time,” added SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “Illinois was attempting to perpetuate an indefensible policy of public disarmament, and Judge Johnston’s ruling brings that to a halt.”
Again, it should also be remembered that besides the unconstitutionality of the policy, there’s also the fact that it didn’t work. As Judge Johnston notes, it inhibits people with concealed carry permits. It doesn’t actually prevent illegal carriers from carrying illegally.
Yet courts don’t decide if a policy works or not. They determine if it’s constitutional, and under Bruen, one would be extremely hard-pressed to find even a hint of a historical analog to this ban. It just doesn’t exist, and why would it? People have long been able to carry firearms on public transportation if they could carry a gun at all.
Further, this law directly impacts a lot of poorer Americans in Illinois who may not be able to afford to own or operate a car. Many of them depend on public transportation to get around, particularly in a city like Chicago. This ban basically kept them disarmed anywhere outside of the home, which was the goal.
Now, this attempt is largely dead…depending on what happens from here.
If officials are smart, they’ll let it lie. There’s almost no chance of this not going to the Supreme Court if they get an en banc review and win there. If they do that and it goes like I expect, what will then happen is the Supreme Court will issue another pro-Second Amendment ruling that will restrict what gun control can be passed even more so than Bruen did, and it won’t just be Illinois impacted.
So please request the review. Please don’t be smart. Please make the stupid move so we can see more idiotic restrictions die a fiery death.
That would be glorious.
