Carbondale Reporter

Paul Jacobs, a candidate for Illinois State House District 118, has expressed his views on the current gun and magazine ban in Illinois. He stated, "The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up cases challenging Illinois Democrats’ gun and magazine ban."

"The U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether to take up cases challenging Illinois Democrats' gun and magazine ban," said Paul R Jacobs, State Representative, according to Facebook.

In a recent Facebook post, Representative Jacobs shared an article from The Center Square that elaborated on the Supreme Court of the United States' (SCOTUS) contemplation over hearing challenges to Illinois' gun and magazine ban, which was enacted in January 2023.

Screenshot of Rep. Paul Jacobs' May 17 Facebook post | State Representative Paul Jacobs' Facebook page

According to The Center Square's report, following preliminary motions in the federal appeals court, plaintiffs requested intervention from the US Supreme Court. Hannah Hill, Executive Director of the National Foundation for Gun Rights, is advocating for this law to be overturned.

The same report suggested that other cases challenging the law based on its merits might also be directed towards SCOTUS. Hill commented on this matter saying, "It’s not going to change until the Supreme Court weighs in and says, ‘oh no, we actually meant what we said in [New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen], we meant what we said in [District of Columbia v. Heller] and we expect you to apply this to the low hanging fruit of assault weapons ban cases.’"

The Center Square reported in an April 30 article that multiple Illinois cases have been put into conference by the US Supreme Court along with one case challenging Maryland's ban last week. This conference was scheduled for May 16.

In that same article, Alan Gottlieb from the Second Amendment Foundation was interviewed. He stated optimistically about their efforts reaching SCOTUS: "It’s very significant because we’ve been trying very hard to get a case to the Supreme Court dealing with these issues and I think now we’re going to get there. The end of the month is realistic to find out. And, it may happen in June."

According to his official biography, Jacobs was elected to the House of Representatives in 2020 and currently represents the 118th District. He is an optometrist and a former winery owner.