HIGHLAND PARK - Highland Park pediatrician Arie Friedman may apparently be forced to give up firearms he stores in his Highland Park home, as the U.S. Supreme Court denied hearing an appeal in a 7 to 2 ruling made public Monday. The doctor had sued his hometown for banning semi-automatic weapons in 2013. The ban, he argued, denied his Second Amendment rights.
With the help of the Illinois State Rifle Association, Friedman challenged a lower court ruling that favored the city. The Supreme Court did not explain, but chose not to challenge the lower court's decision.
The ISRA responded to the ruling said this may not be the victory gun control enthusiasts claim.
"The U.S. Supreme Court declined this morning to hear a case out of Illinois challenging a ban on so-called 'assault weapons' that carry more than ten rounds, a decision that may live in as much infamy as today’s date, and while gun prohibitionists may temporarily cheer, this may be another awakening of a sleeping giant that fills him with a terrible resolve."
The Wall Street Journal explained the case:
The case came from Highland Park, Ill., which in 2013 banned possession of semiautomatic pistols and rifles. The ban included versions of the AK-47, AR-15 and Uzi, which it described as “a narrow category of unusually dangerous weapons that have been used in a series of deadly mass shooting events.”
The ordinance was challenged by the Illinois State Rifle Association and Arie Friedman, a pediatrician and Republican activist who argued the law unconstitutionally required him to dispose of weaponry owned. One of his guns—a Smith & Wesson M & P semiautomatic rifle—is the same type of weapon used in the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attackswhere 14 people died and in the 2010 Aurora, Colo., cinema attack that killed 12 people.
Dr. Friedman – who served in the United States Navy as a helicopter pilot – flew SH-60B Seahawk helicopters out of Naval Air Station North Island, California, from which he deployed twice, including once to the Persian Gulf as part of Operation Desert Storm.
The WSJ writes:
In the appeal, Dr. Friedman said “he keeps the Smith & Wesson M & P 15 rifle available for defense of his home and family should the need arise.” His attorney, David Thompson, in a written statement Monday said, “We’re disappointed that the court declined to review a gun ban that covers the most popular firearms in America, including those with many safety enhancing features.”
Supreme Court Justices Anthony Scalia and Clarence Thomas bitterly dissented with the rest of the court, saying the majority's ruling sets the Second Amendment back to a "second-class" right.
Since the Friedman lawsuit, the Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation preventing local ordinances from banning semi-automatics in the future.
This is a state issue that should be fought in the state courts. The city of highland park has no lawful right to violate the state constitution.
Remember the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution was written to tell the federal govt what it can and cannot do. Don’t believe me, read the preamble to the Bill of Rights:
The Preamble to The Bill of Rights
Congress of the United States
begun and held at the City of New-York, on
Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine.
THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution.
RESOLVED by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, two thirds of both Houses concurring, that the following Articles be proposed to the Legislatures of the several States, as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all, or any of which Articles, when ratified by three fourths of the said Legislatures, to be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of the said Constitution; viz.
ARTICLES in addition to, and Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, proposed by Congress, and ratified by the Legislatures of the several States, pursuant to the fifth Article of the original Constitution.
Article 1, SECTION 22. RIGHT TO ARMS
Subject only to the police power, the right of the
individual citizen to keep and bear arms shall not be
infringed.
(Source: Illinois Constitution.)
Here we go again!
The anti-Second Amendment bunch can get the court and legislature to make these bad decisions WITHOUT EXPENSE,
but we have to spend big money to defeat them (but we succeed when we do.)
What’s needed is some legal mechanism where we can SUE them individually for violating OUR civil rights when they pass crap like this.
I hope somehow this ban eventually goes away – but I was pleasantly surprised by the last sentence in the article:
“Since the Friedman lawsuit, the Illinois General Assembly has passed legislation preventing local ordinances from banning semi-automatics in the future.”
Is it really true that our Democrat/Machine run IL Legislature passed such a law that protects the rest of us IL citizens from the type of over-reach done in Highland Park?