Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Ali

Overview

Guns Save Life, Inc. v. Ali (Appellate Court of Illinois – First District, March 13, 2020)  An Illinois appellate court upheld a Cook County ordinance taxing the sale of firearms and ammunition. Cook County passed an ordinance imposing a tax of $25 per firearm, later adding a tax on ammunition. The tax revenues were allocated to a Public Safety Fund. Plaintiffs, a gun-rights advocacy group, a gun retailer, and a gun consumer, challenged the taxes as a violation of the 2^nd Amendment and Illinois State Code provisions regulating the sale of firearms. The appellate court upheld the trial court’s summary judgment in favor of the County. The 2^nd Amendment does not prohibit taxes that do not restrict who may purchase a weapon or ammunition or what types of weapons or ammunition are available. Standard sales taxes on consumer products that are neither prohibitory or exclusionary do not interfere with 2^nd Amendment rights merely by making the right more expensive or difficult to exercise. The appellate court rejected similar state law claims. Read the decision here.

View all cases in the Judicial Trends in Public Health – May 1, 2020.

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