Bevis v. City of Naperville: Challenging the Ban at the Municipal Level

Bevis v. City of Naperville is a Second Amendment challenge that began as a dispute over the City of Naperville's local assault weapons ordinance and expanded to encompass Illinois's statewide Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA). The case has been consolidated with other PICA challenges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, making it part of the broader litigation that will determine the fate of Illinois's assault weapons ban.^[1]

Origins of the Case

Robert Bevis, the owner of Law Weapons & Supply, a gun store in Naperville, Illinois, filed suit challenging Naperville's municipal assault weapons ban shortly after the city council passed the ordinance. Naperville's ordinance, enacted before the statewide PICA ban, prohibits the sale and possession of assault weapons within city limits. Bevis argued that the ordinance violates the Second Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court in NYSRPA v. Bruen (2022), which requires the government to justify firearms regulations by reference to the nation's historical tradition of firearm regulation.^[1]

As a firearms retailer directly affected by the ban, Bevis had clear standing to challenge the ordinance. His store sold the types of semiautomatic rifles, standard-capacity magazines, and related accessories that the ordinance prohibited, and the ban directly impacted his ability to conduct business and serve his customers. The case was initially filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Seventh Circuit Panel Decision

In November 2023, a three-judge panel of the Seventh Circuit (Judges Wood, Easterbrook, and Brennan) denied a preliminary injunction in a 2-1 decision. The majority held that the assault weapons bans were likely constitutional, reasoning that particularly dangerous weapons have historically been subject to regulation. The majority opinion drew on historical examples of weapons regulations, including Founding-era restrictions on the storage of gunpowder and 19th-century bans on Bowie knives and concealed weapons, as analogues supporting the modern bans.^[2]

Judge Brennan authored a forceful dissent arguing that the majority's interpretation of the Second Amendment was too "cramped" and that the banned weapons are plainly covered by the constitutional text. The dissent contended that semiautomatic rifles are among the most popular firearms in America, with millions in circulation, and that banning them cannot be justified under Bruen's historical test. Brennan argued that the historical analogues cited by the majority were not sufficiently comparable to a categorical ban on an entire class of commonly owned firearms.^[2]

Consolidation and District Court Injunction

The Seventh Circuit consolidated Bevis with parallel suits, including Credit River Township v. Raoul and Harrel v. Raoul, creating a unified appellate proceeding addressing all major challenges to Illinois's assault weapons ban. The consolidation means that the Seventh Circuit will resolve the constitutional questions in a single opinion covering both the municipal and state-level bans.^[1]

On November 8, 2024, the district court issued a permanent statewide injunction against the assault weapons ban, the magazine capacity limits, and the registration scheme. An amended judgment was entered on December 9, 2024. The Seventh Circuit subsequently stayed the injunction in December 2024, keeping the ban in effect while the appeal proceeds.

Municipal vs. State-Level Implications

The Bevis case raises distinct questions about the relationship between municipal and state-level firearms regulations in Illinois. Illinois has a limited preemption framework under 430 ILCS 66/90 that generally prevents local governments from enacting firearms regulations more restrictive than state law. However, Cook County and certain municipalities that enacted ordinances before the 2013 preemption law were grandfathered in. These pre-2013 local bans include ordinances in Naperville, Highland Park, Deerfield, Evanston, and several other municipalities.^[2]

A ruling in Bevis could affect both the statewide PICA ban and this patchwork of local ordinances. If the Seventh Circuit holds that assault weapons bans violate the Second Amendment, both the state law and the municipal ordinances would likely fall, eliminating the dual-layer regulatory structure entirely. Conversely, if the court upholds the bans, it would validate both the state-level and municipal regulatory approach and remove any remaining legal uncertainty for gun owners and dealers operating in jurisdictions with overlapping local and state bans.

Current Status

The consolidated cases were argued before the Seventh Circuit on September 22, 2025. A decision is pending as of March 2026. The outcome will directly determine whether Naperville's local ordinance and Illinois's statewide ban survive Second Amendment scrutiny under the Bruen framework.^[2]