Court Strikes Down Illinois' Concealed-Carry Ban

A U.S. appeals court has ruled Illinois' ban on carrying a weapon in public is unconstitutional, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Under the 2-1 ruling, the state would have to allow residents to carry weapons. But the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals has given lawmakers 180 days to "craft a new gun law that will impose reasonable limitations, consistent with the public safety and the Second Amendment as interpreted in this opinion, on the carrying of guns in public," the Tribune reports. 

Illinois is the only state to not have some form of conceal carry, the Tribune said. 

Here are some excerpts from the court's opinion: 

"We are disinclined to engage in another round of historical analysis to determine whether eighteenth-century America understood the Second Amendment to include a right to bear guns outside the home.

The Supreme Court has decided that the amendment confers a right to bear arms for self-defense, which is as important outside the home as inside...

Illinois had to provide us with more than merely a rational basis for believing that its uniquely sweeping ban is justified by an increase in public safety. It has failed to meet this burden."

The Trib lauded the decision as a major victory for the National Rifle Association.

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