Caffeinated Politics

I applauded the Illinois state legislature and Governor Pat Quinn in 2013 for passing and signing the concealed carry bill. Good politics makes good policy and strong laws. Today, yet another vindication of that fact was registered by the Supreme Court in relation to the failed attempt by three overly litigious people in Illinois to undermine public safety.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a legal challenge to an Illinois law barring concealed carry permit holders from carrying loaded guns on public transportation, leaving intact the state’s 2013 prohibition on firearms aboard buses and trains.

In September, a three-judge 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel in Chicago overturned a 2024 ruling from U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, who found the public transportation provision of Illinois’ concealed carry law unconstitutional.

In the appeals ruling, the court noted, “The Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to self-defense. It does not bar the people’s representatives from enacting laws — consistent with our nation’s historical tradition of regulation — that ensure public transportation systems remain free from accessible firearms,” the 7th Circuit panel wrote. “We are asked whether the state may temporarily disarm its citizens as they travel in crowded and confined metal tubes unlike anything the Founders envisioned. We draw from the lessons of our nation’s historical regulatory traditions and find no Second Amendment violation in such a regulation.”

Beyond public transportation, Illinois’ 2013 concealed carry law prohibits permit holders from carrying firearms in government buildings, hospitals, and stadiums during sporting events, among other locations.

The Supreme Court’s decision today is rooted in the fact that states have the authority to regulate firearms in sensitive public spaces. I do not ride public transit in Madison (in fact, I have only once been on a city bus in 1988), but I do empathize with being in a confined area in this time of too many guns being allowed in society.

We can certainly grasp that public transportation is one of the clearest examples where gun control must be employed. Buses and trains are crowded, difficult to secure, and any violent incident can escalate rapidly. By correctly declining to take up the case, the Court allowed Illinois to maintain reasonable limits designed to protect passengers who rely on public transportation. Not being a lawyer (though I read John Grisham), my perspective on the role of the court today adds weight to how states retain broad discretion to balance individual gun rights with the collective right to public safety.

What I pointed out in 2013 was how this gun control policy was shaped through the democratic process. Weeks of local lawmakers, law enforcement agencies, and community groups weighing in on the risks associated with firearms on public transit. I noted at the time that public transportation, in question of needed protection, was populated disproportionately by workers, students, seniors, and people with disabilities. In other words, people who had to rely on public transport.

What I wholeheartedly applaud is that the Court’s decision not to intervene aligns with a long‑standing legal tradition recognizing that the right to bear arms is not absolute and can be subject to regulation. Even major Supreme Court rulings on gun rights, many of which I find troubling, have acknowledged that restrictions in “sensitive places” are permissible. Public transportation, where escape routes are limited and bystanders are tightly packed, fits squarely within that category.

Just another reason to think most fondly of Pat Quinn. At the time, when he was mightily fighting the absurdity of the NRA over this needed piece of legislation, he stated, “Do not genuflect before the National Rifle Association,” and, “They do not understand public safety in the land of Lincoln, and we’re going to fight hard for public safety.”

Because of his far-sightedness, this law is still firmly enacted and proving to be constitutional. And the NRA is still proving to be mouthbreathing fools.