WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a Second Amendment challenge to state laws in Illinois that prohibited the sale of rapid-fire assault weapons.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.

Had the court granted the appeals, it would have threatened California's long-standing ban of most rapid-fire assault rifles as well.

Thomas said the court refused to hear the appeals now because the cases are still pending in the lower courts. "I hope we will consider the important issues presented by these petitions after the cases reach final judgment," he wrote.

Tuesday's order suggests the justices are not anxious to rule on rapid-fire guns at this time, but it probably does not signal the majority leans in favor of upholding these laws.

In the brief order, the justices said they would not review a ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, which in a 2-1 vote refused to block a new Illinois law that forbids the sale of semiautomatic rifles and pistols as well as large-capacity magazines.

The measure was enacted last year after a shooter armed with an AR-15-style rifle and 30-round magazines fired 83 rounds in less than a minute, killing seven people and wounding 48, at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, a suburb of Chicago.

At issue was whether the state's ban on these popular but potentially dangerous weapons violates the Second Amendment and the right to "keep and bear arms."

The National Foundation for Gun Rights called Tuesday's order a temporary setback.

"For now at least, the Second Amendment is a second-class right, and it will remain so until the Supreme Court decides to stop ducking the issue," said Hannah Hill, the group's executive director. The case will now proceed to the discovery, trial, and summary judgment phases at the district court, she added.

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