Illinois Ban on Commonly Owned Semi-Automatic Rifles Temporarily Blocked by Court

Joshua Morrison, a judge in Effingham County, issued a temporary restraining (TRO), stopping the Illinois ban against semiautomatic rifles that are commonly owned.

Breitbart News reported Governor of Illinois J.B. Pritzker (D) signed the ban on January 10, 2023. J.B. Pritzker (D), signed this ban on January 10, 2023. The new law allows owners of banned firearms to keep them. However they must register their guns with the Illinois State Police.

Pritzker’s office released a statement Upon his signing of the bill. It stated, in part: “The new law also requires existing owners of semi-automatic rifles to register their ownership, ensuring that law enforcement knows the location of these weapons of war and who to hold accountable if they fall into the wrong hands.”

FOX News noted Judge Morrison issued a TRO Friday for a case brought to him by “citizens from 87 Illinois counties.”

Morrison stated that the U.S. Constitution as well as the Illinois Constitution protect the right of bear arms.

He noticed that 830 of the 87 county plaintiffs had filed for relief. “are being immediately and irreparably harmed each day in which their fundamental right to bear arms is being denied.”

On January 15, 2023, Breitbart News pointed out that sheriffs in 80 of Illinois’ 102 counties had made clear they believe the ban violated the constitution and were refusing to enforce it.

The 20th of January 2023 will see the commencement Wall Street Journal explained “almost every sheriff in Illinois has vowed not to enforce a new ban on military-style semiautomatic weapons.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst at Breitbart News. Armed American Radio Turning Point USA Ambassador. AWR Hawkins has a Ph.D. degree in Military History with a focus upon the Vietnam War (brownwater navy), U.S. Navy Since Inception, Civil War and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram @awr_hawkins. To get Down Range, sign up breitbart.com/downrange. Contact him at [email protected].