Will County Gazette

Illinois State Senate District 43 candidate Jen Monson shared information on the status of the automatic weapons ban, stating, "there is yet hope for 2nd Amendment rights in Illinois!" She made the statement in a July 3 Facebook post.

"There is yet hope for 2nd Amendment rights in Illinois," said jennifer Monson for IL Senate, according to Facebook. "While other states in the union enjoy the freedoms of their second amendment rights, citizens of Illinois continue to fight against tyranny and oppressive control of those same rights."

In her Facebook post, Monson shared a link to an article from The Center Square. According to the article, the Supreme Court declined to take up cases challenging Illinois' gun ban without final judgment from the appeals court. This decision means that the cases will return to the lower courts. The Center Square article noted that several cases were making their way through district and appeals courts without final judgments issued and quoted Justice Clarence Thomas in his denial.

Screenshot of Jen Monson's July 3 Facebook post | JenMonson4ILSenate43 Facebook page

"This Court is rightly wary of taking cases in an interlocutory posture. But, I hope we will consider the important issues presented by these petitions after the cases reach final judgment," wrote Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice for the U.S. Supreme Court.

Reporting on the decision not to hear the challenges, CBS News said that Supreme Court justices declined to block the law in addition to not hearing those challenges. CBS reported that Justice Samuel Alito would have heard the case on the ban’s constitutionality. CBS also quoted a different section of Thomas' ruling: "It is difficult to see how the Seventh Circuit could have concluded that the most widely opened semiautomatic rifles are not ‘Arms’ protected by the Second Amendment," wrote Thomas.

House Bill 5855, also known as the "Protect Illinois Communities Act," regulates the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches, according to information from the Illinois State Police page on the act itself. Individuals who owned those items prior to the Act going into effect were required to submit an endorsement affidavit through their Firearms Owner Identification Card account.

Jen Monson is the Republican nominee for Illinois State Senate District 43. She ran an uncontested race in the primary election. According to her campaign website, she is an educator and school board member who wants to "work to maintain citizen rights and their ability to exercise their God-given rights to exist and live freely without unconstitutional government overreach."