New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell are spearheading a coalition of 19 states in the defense of Cook County, Illinois’ assault weapons ban. This ban is currently being challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In support of Cook County’s law, the coalition has filed an amicus brief, asserting that it upholds Second Amendment protections and serves the best interests of public safety.
“We can respect the Second Amendment while implementing commonsense firearms restrictions that promote public safety,” said Attorney General Platkin. “Weapons intended for wartime use, which have the capacity to kill the maximum number of people in the shortest amount of time, were never intended to be used for self-defense purposes.”
Cook County has been regulating assault weapons since 1993, with the Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban of 2006 further enhancing these regulations. The ban is named after Blair Holt, a 16-year-old who tragically lost his life in a Chicago bus shooting. According to the coalition’s brief, assault weapons such as AR-15 and AK-47-style rifles are not intended for self-defense but rather military purposes, capable of causing severe harm in mass shootings.
The brief emphasizes that there is a longstanding tradition of regulating hazardous weapons in the United States and that states have the authority to impose limitations on arms that pose a risk to public safety. It stands behind a district court’s decision in March 2024 to uphold Cook County’s ban on assault weapons.
Seventeen other states and the District of Columbia, along with New Jersey and Massachusetts, have also joined the brief.
