IL: Ban on Guns in Forest Preserve District is Unconstitutional

AmmoLand ^ | September 24, 2021 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

On September 13, 2021, Judge Robert M. Dow, Jr. rendered an opinion and order. The ban on possession of firearms by concealed carry license holders in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County (FPDCC) is unconstitutional. The judge issued a temporary stay on the order to give the Illinois legislature six months to address the issue if it so desires. From patch.com:

CHICAGO — A state law that bans the concealed carry of firearms in the Cook County Forest Preserve District is unconstitutionally broad, according to a federal judge.

U.S. District Judge Robert Dow issued a ruling Monday that found a section of the Illinois Firearm Concealed Carry Act violates the Second Amendment by forbidding people with concealed carry licenses, or CCLs, from carrying guns anywhere in the 70,000-acre forest preserve.

Judge Dow holds court in the Northern District of Illinois, the Eastern Division, which includes Chicago. This is a federal court. The case, Solomon v. Cook County, deals specifically with the issue of whether the ban on the possession of firearms by people with concealed weapons licenses violates the Second Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights. The Judge rigorously followed the precedent set by the 7th Circuit, which has recognized the Second Amendment extends outside the home. From the decision P. 25 :

 In sum, the Seventh Circuit has recognized a right to carry firearms outside the home for self-defense purposes, and the record contains little evidence about the history of that right on publicly owned land, whether developed into a public recreational space or undeveloped and left as a wilderness.

[marktwain]

Good ruling by Judge Dow.

[Candor7]

Atta go Judge Dow !

Hiking Accessories needed.