SPRINGFIELD – Gun rights advocates scored a victory Thursday when the Illinois Supreme Court decided to let a challenge to Cook County's assault weapons ban proceed, even though two lower courts had tossed it out.

The Supreme Court, in a unanimous ruling, said it wants the trial court to hear evidence on whether assault weapons get the same Second Amendment protections as handguns.

Cook County banned the sale or possession of assault weapons in 1993. The ordinance included details of what constituted an assault weapon and examples of banned guns, but it was aimed at "high-capacity, rapid-fire" rifles and pistols. The law was expanded in 2006 to ban large ammunition magazines.