SAF Applauds Illinois High Court On 'Right To Bear Arms' Ruling

BELLEVUE, Wash., Sept. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Second Amendment Foundation is applauding today's unanimous ruling by the Illinois State Supreme Court that the right to keep and bear arms is not confined to the home and that a state statute regarding aggravated unlawful use of weapons (AUUW) violates the Second Amendment.

In the unanimous ruling, written by Justice Robert R. Thomas, the court states, "As the Seventh Circuit correctly noted, neither Heller nor McDonald expressly limits the Second Amendment's protections to the home. On the contrary, both decisions contain language strongly suggesting if not outright confirming that the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms extends beyond the home."

"This is one more court rejection of claims by anti-gunners that the right to keep and bear arms is somehow confined to the home," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb.

The case at issue, Illinois v. Alberto Aguilar, dates back to June 12, 2008, slightly more than two weeks prior to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller.

The case challenged a section of the law that prohibited carrying firearms outside the home that, according to the court, "…amounts to a wholesale statutory ban on the exercise of a personal right that is specifically named in and guaranteed by the United States Constitution, as construed by the United States Supreme Court. In no other context would we permit this, and we will not permit it here either."

The court footnotes that the Illinois General Assembly has enacted the state's Firearm Concealed Carry Act due to SAF's victory in Moore v. Madigan, which is cited in today's ruling. The Act amended the state statute to "allow for a limited right to carry certain firearms in public." The court also noted that "Neither the Firearms Concealed Carry Act nor the amended (state) statute is at issue in this case."

Still, recognition that the AUUW section violated the Second Amendment is significant, Gottlieb said.

"Here we have a state Supreme Court declaring a section of state law unconstitutional under the Second Amendment," he said. "That would not have happened without our victories in McDonald and Moore, and it affirms our effort to win back firearms freedoms one lawsuit at a time."

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation's oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms.  Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 600,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control. 

SOURCE Second Amendment Foundation