Several gun rights groups have sued to block the new Illinois semi-automatic weapons ban, teeing up a lengthy legal battle that could make its way to the Supreme Court alongside several other state-level gun restrictions. 

Three lawsuits were filed late Tuesday — one in the federal Southern District of Illinois and two in state courts — challenging the constitutionality of the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which bans many assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines. 

“Illinois now officially prohibits the sale and distribution of these mass killing machines and rapid fire devices,” Governor Pritzker said at the bill signing ceremony last week. Mr. Pritzker has made gun control a pillar of his administration, banning “ghost guns” last year and garnering national attention after the July 4 mass shooting at Highland Park. 

The lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Illinois, Harrel v. Raoul, asks the court to temporarily suspend the state law while a judge hears a case on the merits. Gun rights advocates say the law violates their “fundamental” right under the Second Amendment to keep and bear these “common firearms.”

One of the state-level lawsuits, which was filed in Crawford County, calls for the high-capacity magazine restriction to be overturned as well. The law bans magazines for long-barreled rifles that hold more than 10 rounds, and bans magazines for pistols that hold more than 15 rounds. 

“It is objectively impossible to determine a given ammunition capacity without knowing what ammunition will be fed into it,” attorney Thomas Maag wrote for the plaintiffs, noting that “no objectively intelligent person” can know the magazine capacity without closer examination. He says that this “vague” law would encroach on citizens’ right against unreasonable searches.

Another state-level lawsuit was filed by a failed Republican candidate for attorney general, Tom DeVore. He takes issue with the way the bill was passed through the legislature, saying that it violates the Illinois constitution because Democrats used a budgetary vehicle rather than a stand-alone bill in order to get the measure to Mr. Pritzker’s desk. 

Mr. DeVore’s lawsuit was filed in Effingham County in south central Illinois, where Mr. Pritzker won 16 percent of the vote in last year’s election. Mr. DeVore says that he now represents 866 residents of Illinois in the lawsuit, which names Mr. Pritzker, the state house speaker, Chris Welch, the senate president, Don Harmon, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul as defendants. 

Illinois is just one of several states currently defending its gun laws in court. In the wake of the landmark New York State Pistol and Rifle Association v. Bruen, many of New York’s gun restrictions were thrown out. Following that, Governor Hochul pledged she would not “back down” from the high court, and eight days later signed a more restrictive measure.

Provisions of the law were struck down by two federal district judges, and the state attorney general, Letitia James, quickly filed appeals. A three-judge panel in the United States Second Circuit then allowed the new gun restrictions to go into effect, but gun rights groups appealed to the Supreme Court, asking the justices to not allow the restrictions to be enforced as the appeals process plays out. 

In both cases — one last week and another Wednesday — the Supreme Court allowed the New York law to take effect. Now the original three-judge panel will decide the constitutionality of the law. 

New Jersey followed, adopting one of the strictest gun laws in the nation just before Christmas. The executive director of the Association of New Jersey Pistol and Rifle Club, Scott Bach, called his state’s gun law a “big middle finger” to the Supreme Court and said he is prepared to bring his challenge all the way to the high court. 

An Illinois gun store owner, Dan Eldridge, told a Springfield-based radio host, Greg Bishop, that despite some press outlets and legal experts doubting their lawsuit’s viability, the Second Amendment groups have a strong coalition behind them. “We’ve had tremendous support from the industry and from the individuals and people are not throwing money at a lost cause,” he said.