Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock joins 34 others calling Illinois’ ban on firearms unconstitutional

OREGON – Ogle County State’s Attorney Mike Rock, along with the state’s attorneys of 34 other Illinois counties, has filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals’ Seventh Circuit, arguing Illinois’ ban on so-called assault weapons is unconstitutional.

“In the amicus brief, also known as a friend-of-the-court brief, the state’s attorneys argue that the ban enacted by the Illinois legislature is unconstitutional because it broadly bans entire categories of firearms that are widely owned by law-abiding Illinoisans, and the ban does not follow the historical tradition of firearm regulation in the United States,” said the press release issued by Rock.

Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine is the lead attorney in the amicus brief. Additional counsel for the brief are the state’s attorneys of the counties of Brown, Calhoun, Carroll, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Cumberland, Edwards, Effingham, Gallatin, Hancock, Henry, Iroquois, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Livingston, Marion, Mercer, Monroe, Ogle, Perry, Pulaski, Schuyler, Scott, Union, Vermilion, Warren, Washington, White and Woodford counties.

There are 102 state’s attorneys in Illinois, one for each county.

“State’s attorneys have a duty to ensure that the laws we enforce are Constitutional,” Rock said in the press release. “This law – which purports to ban this widely owned type of firearm that accounts for only a tiny portion of violent crime in our state and nation clearly is unconstitutional. I am happy to partner with so many other Illinois State’s Attorneys in asking the Seventh Circuit to throw out this law and protect our basic right of effective self-defense of hearth and home in Illinois and the rest of America.”

The ban was approved by the Illinois legislature in January 2023. It bans the sale, purchase and manufacturing of firearms that the legislature defined as “assault weapons,” such as AR-15-style rifles.

The amicus brief was filed in an appeal currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and stems from a challenge to the ban filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

In November 2024, the Honorable U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn found the ban to be unconstitutional; an appeal of his ruling is now before the Seventh Circuit.