On Thursday a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld the “assault weapons” and magazine bans in Illinois.
The case is Barnett v. Raoul.
The three-judge panel ruled two to one in favor of the ban, claiming the ban’s restrictions on “AR-15s and thirty-round rifle magazines…are consistent with the principles that underpin our Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.”
Chief Judge Michael B. Brennan dissented, noting that the AR-15 is “the best-selling rifle in America” and the banned magazines are “standard capacity.”
He continued:
Our Nation’s enduring traditions forbid governments from prohibiting firearms commonly owned for self-defense. Because the people have overwhelmingly chosen the AR-15 rifle and its magazine as their weapon of choice, they are protected by the Second Amendment.
On June 30, 2026, Breitbart News noted SCOTUS granted cert in two cases: Grant v. Higgins and Viramontes v. Cook County. The cases are consolidated and will result in a ruling as to whether AR-15s and similar rifles are protected by the Second and Fourteenth Amendments.
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 for Armed American Radio and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He holds a PhD in Military History with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. He enjoys reading Philosophy and novels by Jack Carr and Nelson DeMille. He is a lever action man in an AR-15 world. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
