2-1 ruling sets up likely appeal to U.S. Supreme Court

In a 2-1 ruling Friday, a federal appeals court declined to block enforcement of the state's assault weapon ban as well as similar local ordinances, saying the rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution are not absolute.

The judges sided with two lower court decisions from the Chicago area but overturned the ruling of a federal court in southern Illinois, stating that the plaintiffs “have not shown the likelihood of success on the merits, based on the fact that military weapons lie outside the class of arms to which the individual right applies.”

“The Second Amendmen...