Judge Rules Chicago Gun Ban Is Unconstitutional

Law • January 2014 • Views: 911

A federal judge ruled Monday that Chicago’s ban on virtually all sales and transfers of firearms is unconstitutional.

“The stark reality facing the City each year is thousands of shooting victims and hundreds of murders committed with a gun. But on the other side of this case is another feature of government: certain fundamental rights are protected by the Constitution, put outside government’s reach, including the right to keep and bear arms for self-defense under the Second Amendment,” wrote U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang.

“Chicago’s ordinance goes too far in outright banning legal buyers and legal dealers from engaging in lawful acquisitions and lawful sales of firearms,” he continued.

More: Judge Rules Chicago Gun Ban Is Unconstitutional

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4 comments

Dark_Falcon Tue, Jan 7, 2014 6:52:19am

I say ‘good’. Chicago’s law was overly broad and did not keep guns away from gangs. What is needed is better anti-gang action not gun bans.

Political Atheist Tue, Jan 7, 2014 8:15:30am

re: #1 Dark_Falcon

Certainly so. Gun bans are illegal. the government can and has regulated the kinds of guns, the sales, the capacity of the guns, the sights on them, the storage, the registration protocols. looks like plenty of gun control is available to wiser legislators than Chicago currently has.

But don’t worry gun control fans, Chicago will do what DC did-Heavily criminalize gun parts like magazines and ammunition components. Soon, an empty brass casing will be a big a crime as an illegal gun.

Sadly, police will have to enforce that instead of spending that time and those resources on the heart of the violence-Criminal activity. Drugs, organized crime, local corruption and the like.

kirkspencer Tue, Jan 7, 2014 10:37:59am

Decision is at

Before anyone goes off on similarity between DC and Chicago and all the gun control issues, they might want to read the decision.

In a nutshell it’s ‘they went too far’ not ‘they did what they shouldn’t’.

Dark_Falcon Tue, Jan 7, 2014 2:01:34pm

RWC, I need to agree with Kirk on that point: The Chicago City Council is a smarter bunch on this than their DC counterparts. If they get smacked down on a point of law they’ll concede that point and they won’t go where DC has already been smacked down.

They also can’t criminalize any components of guns or ammo that they have not already criminalized. When Illinois passed its Concealed Carry law, the state legislature included a preemption clause. Chicago cannot further tighten its local firearms laws; Any future tightening can only be done on the state level.

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