EFFINGHAM COUNTY — A downstate judge has denied a motion to reconsider his earlier ruling regarding the Illinois assault weapons ban.

Judge Douglas Jarman dismissed in August a lawsuit filed by Accuracy Firearms of Effingham and thousands of others against the ban.

But attorneys for the plaintiffs in the case had asked Jarman to reconsider that decision.

Then on Thursday, Judge Jarman wrote that he is bound by the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision in a similar suit brought by St. Rep. Dan Caulkins of Decatur.

The state supreme court ruled in that case that members of the public are not in all aspects similar to the individuals listed as exempt from the ban.

Jarman said the state court ruled the exemption of those individuals does not violate the equal protection clause of the state constitution.

Jarman wrote that the Caulkins suit against Governor J.B. Pritzker controls the Accuracy Firearms suit, so denied the motion to reconsider.

Thursday’s ruling still doesn’t end things, as further pleadings are expected, possibly to the US Supreme Court.