A group of state’s attorneys in Illinois have filed a “friend of the court” brief expressing their opposition to Governor J.B. Pritzker’s assault weapons ban.
Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine tells KMOX that the group’s argument in the brief is that it’s unconstitutional to ban a weapon that is already “commonly in use.”
“Many millions of Americans own them, they view them as very valuable for one particular reason, and that is self defense,” Haine said. “The primary reason statistics show individuals own semi automatic rifles is for self defense.”
Haine said that mass shootings are carried out by “deranged individuals” who need to be dealt with, but he said that’s no reason to violate the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding owners of assault weapons.
A total of 32 State’s Attorneys have signed the brief; some 70 others did not. There are currently seven other states — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York — plus the District of Columbia that have passed assault weapon bans.
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