SCOTUS denies one appeal of the Illinois assault weapons ban while another waits

The U.S. Supreme Court has denied one request to review the Illinois assault weapon ban, but many think the court is more likely to take up another challenge to the law later this year.

The high court turned down a request by Republican State Rep. Dan Caulkins, of Decatur, to hear an appeal of the case he lost before the Illinois Supreme Court in August.

In his appeal, Caulkins argued that he was denied a fair hearing at the state supreme court because two of the state justices had received large campaign contributions from Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who signed the assault weapon ban into law.

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Caulkins also claimed the law is unconstitutional because it allows some people to keep their assault weapons if they acquired those guns before the ban took effect.

Pritzker praised the ruling on social media.

“No matter the roadblocks, I’ll never stop fighting against the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

The justices at the U.S. Supreme Court gave no reason for declining to hear Caulkins’ appeal. But many people expect the court to take up a separate challenge to the law from the National Association for Gun Rights, which argues more broadly that the ban violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against the gun rights group in November. The group is expected to file its appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court within the next several weeks.

Monday's ruling comes after the high court turned down another appeal from Caulkins to put the law on hold before the assault weapons registry went into effect. Those who possessed banned weapons, attachments, and high-capacity magazines had until Jan. 1 to register with Illinois State Police.

Less than 30,000 Illinoisans completed a disclosure according to ISP data released last week, where those that did not register could face a misdemeanor or felony charge if there are multiple offenses.

At the county level, 804 individuals in Sangamon County submitted affidavits with state police — less than 2% of those with Firearm Owner Identification cards. Sheriff Jack Campbell told The State Journal-Register that he would not arrest violators.

Patrick M. Keck of The State Journal-Register contributed to this report.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.

This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: SCOTUS denies appeal of the Illinois assault weapons ban