The Seventh Circuit Upheld Illinois’ AR-15 Ban. Its Ruling Comes With an Expiration Date.
In Barnett v. Raoul, the Seventh Circuit revived Illinois’ AR-15 and magazine ban, nine days after the Supreme Court agreed to decide the same question. The ruling’s shelf life runs to June 2027.
Every court ruling has a shelf life. On Wednesday the Seventh Circuit handed down one with the expiration date already printed on the carton.
In Barnett v. Raoul, a 2-1 panel upheld Illinois’ Protect Illinois Communities Act, the state’s ban on AR-15s and magazines over 10 rounds for rifles (15 for handguns), reversing the permanent injunction that had blocked it. The timing is the story: it landed nine days after the Supreme Court agreed to answer the exact same question in Viramontes v. Cook County.
Who this hits right now: Illinois gun owners. The injunction that was protecting you is gone and PICA is back in full force while the appeal clock runs. That’s the immediate, practical consequence, and it’s a real one.
The lineup: Judge Amy St. Eve wrote the majority, joined by Judge Frank Easterbrook, holding the ban’s restrictions are “consistent with the principles that underpin our regulatory tradition.” This time the panel switched routes: rather than placing the AR-15 outside the Second Amendment the way Bevis did, it assumed for the sake of argument that the rifle and its magazines are protected “Arms,” then upheld the ban at the second step of the Bruen test, resting the history on 19th-century laws that restricted, taxed, and banned the sale of Bowie knives. Chief Judge Michael Brennan’s dissent went the other way with a sentence that could headline the Supreme Court briefing: “Because the people have overwhelmingly chosen the AR-15 rifle and its magazine as their weapon of choice, they are protected by the Second Amendment.” He also pointed at the district court’s trial record, among the most detailed any Second Amendment case has produced, which found AR-15s materially different from military M16s and chosen by ordinary citizens for lawful reasons. The majority set that record aside.
The scoreboard: six federal circuits have now upheld AR-15 or magazine bans, and the industry’s reaction says what gun owners are thinking: this is exactly why the Supreme Court had to step in. Justice Thomas said it plainly back in 2024: if the Seventh Circuit ultimately allowed Illinois to ban “America’s most common civilian rifle,” the Court “can, and should, review that decision.” The Seventh Circuit read that warning and handed down Barnett anyway.
Why the timing matters: the Supreme Court has already granted cert on this precise question and scheduled one hour of argument for this fall, with a decision due by the end of the term. Barnett’s shelf life runs exactly as long as it takes nine justices to answer the question two of these judges just answered for them. Check the carton: it says June 2027.
Your move: if you’re in Illinois, the short term got worse and nothing about that is fun to read. Nationally, Barnett just became exhibit A for the cert grant, one more circuit ruling on the pile the Court agreed to review. Watch the Viramontes docket for the argument date, and if the Court strikes these bans, six circuits’ worth of restrictions fall at once. The most common rifle in America is still all-in.
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Sources
- Courthouse News, Seventh Circuit ruling coverage
- NSSF statement on the Barnett ruling
- Supreme Court docket, Viramontes v. Cook County (25-238)
Justin Trump is the managing editor and owner of CAT Outdoors. The son of a Vietnam veteran, he’s a Certified Glock Armorer, an avid gun enthusiast and 2A advocate. He holds two firearm patents for the CAT M4 and Talon tools. When not managing CAT Outdoors, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends, rooting for Michigan sports teams, and serving his church.