The 7th District Federal Court of Appeals ruled that age and zoning restrictions placed on gun ranges in the City Chicago violates the 2nd Amendment by being overly broad. Chicago city ordinances had prohibited anyone under 18 years-old from entering a gun range in the city. Additionally, gun ranges were only allowed in manufacturing districts and were required to be more than 500 feet away from churches and schools.
The city stated Chicago’s gun violence poses a “serious public health and safety problem with both social and economic consequences,” and argued the zoning restrictions were reasonable as gun ranges attract crime and can cause lead contamination, noise pollution and fire. However, the city offered no evidence to support their claims.
Chicago frequently makes the news about significant gun violence in the city and has enacted numerous restrictive gun laws in an attempt to curb the violence. This is not the first time Chicago gun-related ordinances have been overturned, including the highly publicized ban on handgun possession that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in McDonald v. Chicago, where the Court stated the 2nd Amendment is applicable to the States through the 14th Amendment, and that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of self-defense.
Read the entire opinion related to gun range zoning here.
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Minnesota 2nd Amendment Lawyer Coley Grostyan is a criminal defense attorney who represents the accused and those wrongfully denied their 2nd Amendment rights.