Chicago (CBS) Gun rights advocates have filed another lawsuit against the City of Chicago's new handgun ordinance, claiming that it violates the Second Amendment because it doesn't allow shooting ranges for the public. The lawsuit filed on Monday, claiming that by "by banning gun ranges open to the public… under color of law," the new Responsible Gun Ownership Ordinance violates the constitutional right to keep and bear arms.
Two gun rights advocacy groups – the Second Amendment Foundation, the Illinois State Rifle Association – filed the lawsuit, along with shooting range equipment maker Action Target Inc. and three individual plaintiffs.
"While the city has adopted new regulations that make it legal to own handguns," Second Amendment Foundation Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb said in a news release, "they have crafted this new ordinance to make it virtually impossible for prospective gun owners to meet all legal requirements unless they travel outside the city for mandatory training. The new ordinance prohibits public gun ranges inside the city yet the city demands that handgun owners get at least one hour of range training time."
The plaintiffs in the case include Rhonda Ezell, whom the news release says has been the victim of attempted burglaries three times and has a disability that makes it difficult for her to leave the city; Joseph Brown, a World War II U.S. Army veteran; and William Hespen, a retired Chicago Police detective.
On June 28, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the right of every American to own firearms for protection, in a ruling on McDonald's lawsuit challenging the handgun bans in Chicago and Oak Park.
The ruling did not flat-out strike down the handgun ban, but remanded it to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and essentially instructed the lower court to rule against the ban. The Chicago handgun ban had been in place since 1982.
The City Council quickly passed the new ordinance to replace the gun ban. The ordinance limits gun purchases to one per month, bans gun shops in city limits and prohibits gun owners from stepping outside their homes, even onto their porches or garages.
Gun rights advocates have already filed other lawsuits to nullify the new law, claiming that it still violates the Second Amendment. The Illinois Association of Firearms Retailers, and a Lake Villa gun shop owner who says he wants to open new firearms dealerships in the Lincoln Park neighborhood and on the Magnificent Mile, are among the plaintiffs.
