NRA Sues Over Illinois Ban on Semiautomatic Weapons

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) Illinois' two-week-old ban on semiautomatic weapons outlaws ubiquitous firearms in radical defiance of the Constitution's Second Amendment, a federal lawsuit filed by the National Rifle Association Tuesday claims.

The powerful NRA joined a parade of gun-rights activists seeking to toss out the newly minted prohibition on dozens of rapid-fire pistols and long guns, as well as large-capacity magazines or attachments.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the law Jan. 10 in response to the shooting deaths of seven at the Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, where 30 were also injured. He has said he believes the law will withstand court challenges about its constitutionality.

Two individual gun owners from Benton, nine miles (about 14 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis, are lead plaintiffs in the NRA lawsuit, the second to be filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois. They are joined by two southern Illinois gun dealers and shooting range operators, as well as a Connecticut-based shooting sports trade association.