Illinois Supreme Court upholds state’s sweeping gun ban
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Supreme Court on Friday upheld the state’s sweeping gun ban, fending off the first major challenge to the landmark law which now awaits its fate before a federal appellate court.
The state high court’s 4-3 ruling is a victory for gun control advocates who pushed for the law following a mass shooting during last year’s Fourth of July parade in Highland Park that claimed the lives of seven people and left dozens injured.
Four of the court’s Democratic justices — Elizabeth Rochford, Joy Cunningham, P. Scott Neville and Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis — ruled in favor of the state, while the two Republicans, justices Lisa Holder White and David Overstreet, dissented jointly. Democratic Justice Mary Kay O’Brien wrote a separate dissenting opinion.
The court found that the law does not violate the state constitution’s equal protection clause by creating exemptions for certain trained professionals and for people who owned the now-banned
