Wilson v. County of Cook

What the court held

Cook County residents challenged the county's Blair Holt Assault Weapons Ban, which prohibits listed semiautomatic firearms, copies and duplicates, weapons meeting a characteristics-based test, and magazines holding more than ten rounds. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of the due process and equal protection counts, finding the ordinance does not arbitrarily distinguish among owners of functionally similar firearms. But it reversed dismissal of the Second Amendment count at the pleading stage, holding that whether the covered weapons are commonly possessed for lawful purposes or instead dangerous and unusual requires an empirical inquiry beyond the record and judicial notice, and remanded for further proceedings without deciding the constitutional question.

Summarized from the court's opinion.

What this case is about

Cook County ordinance banning semiautomatic assault weapons

GunMapUSA summary of the issue, not a quotation from the court.

Key Dates

• 2012-04-05 — Decided

Sources

• CourtListener — retrieved 2026-08-08