Appeals court strikes down Chicago's restrictions on gun ranges

[priell3]

CHICAGO – The U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday handed Chicago another defeat in its effort to restrict the operation of gun ranges in the city.

The appeals court ruled that city ordinances restricting gun ranges to manufacturing areas in Chicago are unconstitutional. The ordinances also placed limits on the distances they can be located in relation to other gun ranges and to residential areas, schools, parks and places of worship.

A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted the city claimed the ordinances serve important public health and safety interests, specifically that they attract gun thieves, cause airborne lead contamination and carry a risk of fire.

"The city has provided no evidentiary support for these claims, nor has it established that limiting shooting ranges to manufacturing districts and distancing them from the multiple and various uses listed in the buffer-zone rule has any connection to reducing these risks," the court wrote in its opinion.

The court also ruled there was no justification for banning of anyone under 18 years from entering a gun range. However, the court says the city can establish a "more closely tailored age restriction" that does not completely extinguish the right of older adolescents and teens to shoot in a supervised firing range.

Judge Ilana Rovner dissented from the majority's opinion on the part of the ruling that struck down the ordinance banning those under 18 years from gun ranges, noting that laws and statutes are employed to protect children from harm, "even where the risk of harm is slight or negligible.

The decision was notable for another reason. One of the three judges on the panel was Diane Sykes, who was on a list of 11 judges President-elect Donald Trump made public last year as among those he would consider as candidates for the U.S. Supreme Court.

A city spokesman wasn't immediately available for comment on the court's ruling.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017...un-ranges.html

[Wilderness 1864]

This is one impressive legal victory coming out of ChicagoLand. I am sure the City will appeal because, if nothing else, they will funnel some patronage cash to high roller Democrat lawyers who routinely contribute to Rham Emanuel. That is how it works in Chicago.

[clarencecoffee]

One might ask why the City of Chicago would go after law abiding recreational gun users. With all the murders and crime in that city one would think they would put their resources elsewhere.

The fact is that the existsnce of these ranges tends to normalize gun ownership and usage and that will have the effect of turning even more of the public pro gun.