A federal appeals court approved Illinois' ban on carrying firearms on public transit. (AP)
"We are asked whether the state may temporarily disarm its citizens as they travel in crowded and confined metal tubes unlike anything the Founders envisioned," the judge continued. "We draw from the lessons of our nation’s historical regulatory traditions and find no Second Amendment violation in such a regulation."
Last year, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois sided with four plaintiffs who claimed that restricting people from carrying guns on public buses and trains was unconstitutional.
The district court relied on a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision, New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, in which a new standard to determine whether a gun restriction is unconstitutional was established. To meet that standard, the government must show there is a "historical tradition of firearm regulation" that supports the law. The court said there were no analogous conditions justifying the gun restrictions on public transit.
The public transit firearm ban was implemented in 2013. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On top of prohibiting guns on buses and trains, the measure restricted gun possession in hospitals and some other public spaces.
Kolar, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, was joined in the majority opinion by Judge Kenneth Ripple, who was appointed by former President Ronald Reagan. Judge Amy St. Eve, who was selected by President Donald Trump during his first term, wrote a separate concurring opinion.
"I write separately to highlight a difficult jurisdictional question that today’s opinion prudently reserves for a future case: how to assess redressability where a plaintiff defines her injury as the inability to engage in protected activity—not the threat of prosecution for doing so—and an unchallenged law also prohibits that precise activity," St. Eve wrote.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-appeals-court-approves-illinois-restrictions-carrying-guns-public-transit