Depending on the location, persons caught carrying a stun gun or TASER in Illinois could face a felony conviction. That was until Thursday when the Illinois Supreme Court ruled unanimously to strike down the ban on carrying stun guns and TASERs in the Land of Lincoln.
Now, these devices may be possessed and carried by anyone at any time, anywhere in Illinois. For now at least. New York had a similar decision released Friday, but the Illinois case involves carrying these defensive devices in public locations.
Heartland of Illinois ABC has the story:
In a unanimous decision filed Thursday, the court upheld a decision from DuPage County Circuit Court finding such a ban of the weapons or the pressing of charges under the state’s concealed carry law violated the Second Amendment of the U.S Constitution. …
The State argued stun guns and Tasers were completely banned under the Firearm Concealed Carry Act, but the circuit court disagreed, saying that “stun guns/tasers are entitled to a least as much protection under the Second Amendment as that afforded firearms, particularly since stun guns are by their specific nature far less lethal than firearms.”
The state of Illinois then appealed the circuit court’s decision directly to the state Supreme Court.
The high court noted that stun guns and Tasers are not covered under the state’s concealed carry laws, thus citizens cannot be charged for unlawful use of a weapon for carrying one in public or in their vehicle under a violation of that law.
The money quote from the 8-page Supreme Court ruling:
Accordingly, we hold the portion of section
24-1(a)(4) that prohibits the carriage or possession of stun guns and tasers is
facially unconstitutional under the second amendment.
The courts have given good people in America a number of wins recently. And this decision stands as the second victory for this week in the Land of Lincoln.