The U.S. Court of Appeals on Wednesday handed Chicago another defeat in its effort to restrict the operation of gun ranges in the city.
(FOX)- The appeals court ruled that city ordinances restricting gun ranges to manufacturing areas in Chicago are unconstitutional.
The ordinances also placed limits on the distances they can be located in relation to other gun ranges and to residential areas, schools, parks and places of worship.
A three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals noted the city claimed the ordinances serve important public health and safety interests, specifically that they attract gun thieves, cause airborne lead contamination and carry a risk of fire.
“The city has provided no evidentiary support for these claims, nor has it established that limiting shooting ranges to manufacturing districts and distancing them from the multiple and various uses listed in the buffer-zone rule has any connection to reducing these risks,” the court wrote in its opinion.
The court also ruled there was no justification for banning of anyone under 18 years from entering a gun range.
However, the court says the city can establish a “more closely tailored age restriction” that does not completely extinguish the right of older adolescents and teens to shoot in a supervised firing range.