On September 2, 2025, a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturned a lower court ruling and upheld a concealed carry ban Illinois on public transit.
The case is Schoenthal v. Raoul. It was brought by four plaintiffs and last year, a Northern District of Illinois judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, according to CBS News.
On Tuesday, the three judge panel of the 7th Circuit upheld the ban.
Judge Joshua Kolar wrote:
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.
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.
The plaintiffs now have an option to appeal for the case to be heard en banc by the 7th Circuit or by the U.S. Supreme Court.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on X: @awrhawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.