WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb. 6, 2012 - U.S. District Court Judge Sue E. Myerscough in Springfield, Illinois has dismissed a gun lobby challenge to Illinois law prohibiting the carrying of loaded guns in public. The Brady Center filed an amicus brief defending the Illinois law and citing numerous studies highlighting the severe danger posed by the carrying of loaded guns in public. The ruling was issued late Friday.
"We are pleased that yet another court has rejected the gun lobby's claim that the Second Amendment bars communities from keeping loaded guns off their streets," said Jonathan Lowy, Director of the Brady Center's Legal Action Project. "More than a dozen courts around the nation have agreed that there is no right to carry loaded guns in public."
The court in Moore v. Madigan ruled that the Second Amendment "is narrow" and only grants a "right to possess lawful firearms ‘in the home' for purposes of self-defense." The court concluded that prohibiting public gun carrying is reasonable because it "will thereby diminish the public's risk of injuries and death by gunfire." The court based its ruling on studies finding that the public carrying of guns poses a severe danger to the public. Studies show that states that broadly allow gun carrying have experienced increases in violent crime, murder, and robbery.
This ruling follows a string of legal victories for gun control supporters in recent weeks, with courts rejecting gun lobby lawsuits challenging laws restricting the public carrying of guns in California, New Jersey and Texas and rejecting a gun lobby challenge to a federal rule to curb gun trafficking along the Mexico border.
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