Ban on Carrying Guns Within 1,000 Feet of Park Struck Down

Discussion of firearm-related news stories. Please use "Off Topic" for non-firearm news.
Forum rules
Do NOT post the full text of published articles. If you would like to discuss a news story please link to it and, at most, include a brief summary of the article.

Ban on Carrying Guns Within 1,000 Feet of Park Struck Down

Postby jdege on Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:08 pm

http://reason.com/volokh/2018/02/01/ban-on-carrying-guns-within-1000-feet-of
Ban on Carrying Guns Within 1,000 Feet of Park Struck Down
...by the Illinois Supreme Court in a decision this morning.

The Illinlois Supreme Court had already held that the Second Amendment protects a right to carry guns in most public places, and in today's People v. Chairez it likewise rejected a ban focused on carrying within 1000 feet of parks:

All of this suggests that elevated intermediate scrutiny should apply. And under this more rigorous review, the government bears the burden of showing a very strong public-interest justification and a close fit between the government's means and its end, as well as proving that the "public's interests are strong enough to justify so substantial an encumbrance on individual Second Amendment rights." That means the State must establish a close fit between the 1000-foot firearm restriction around a public park and the actual public interests it serves....

We certainly accept the general proposition that preventing crime and protecting children are important public concerns. After all, "[g]uns are inherently dangerous instrumentalities." The State, however, cannot simply invoke these interests in a general manner and expect to satisfy its burden.... [T]he State provides no evidentiary support for its claims that prohibiting firearms within 1000 feet of a public park would reduce the risks it identifies. Without specific data or other meaningful evidence, we see no direct correlation between the information the State provides and its assertion that a 1000-foot firearm ban around a public park protects children, as well as other vulnerable persons, from firearm violence....


If the courts start demanding actual evidence that gun control laws work, we'll be in a very different world.
User avatar
jdege
 
Posts: 4465 [View]
Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 10:07 am

Return to In The News

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests

cron