The Trump administration’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, will make oral arguments against Illinois’ “assault weapons” ban later this month.
Dhillon will make those arguments before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
The Chicago Tribune reported, “the Department of Justice is siding with gun-rights groups to oppose a Pritzker-backed law that was passed following the mass shooting at the 2022 Highland Park Fourth of July parade…”
The Tribune did not mention that Mike Bloomberg-affiliated Everytown for Gun Safety ranked Illinois as the state with the sixth most stringent gun controls in the country at the time of the attack. Those controls included a red flag law, a waiting period for gun purchases, gun owner licensing (FOID card requirement), domestic violence gun laws, and “open carry regulations,” among other things.
The Highland Park shooter complied with all of Illinois’ stringent gun controls, possessed a FOID card, and bought his gun legally.
The Tribune also did not mention that the City of Highland Park has an “assault weapons” ban that also bans “large-capacity” magazines, but none of the controls–including the Highland Park “assault weapons” ban–were effectual. Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) response? Sign a state-wide “assault weapons” ban into law which prohibits all law-abiding Illinois residents from owning the most popular semiautomatic rifles in nation.
The Chicago Sun-Times noted that in June the DOJ’s Dhillon told the Seventh Circuit, “President Donald J. Trump has instructed his Administration to ‘protect the Second Amendment rights of all Americans’.”
Later this month, Dhillon will argue against the “assault weapons” ban.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
