Updated to include link to opinion.
Gun rights advocates scored a victory when the Illinois Supreme Court allowed a challenge to a Cook County assault weapons ban to proceed.
The court on Thursday ruled that lower courts were wrong to throw out the challenge. The Supreme Court says it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.
The county imposed the ban back in 1993. It had been upheld by trial courts and appeals courts.
A key question is whether high-capacity, fast-firing weapons should be considered ordinary guns that get full Second Amendment protection or treated like machine guns and other special weapons that can be restricted.