Ordinances barring handgun ownership in the city of Chicago and the suburb of Oak Park will stand after they were upheld today by a federal appeals court.

The ruling is a defeat for the National Rifle Association, which argued in the case that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms and makes such local ordinances unconstitutional.

Calls seeking comment from the NRA were not immediately returned.

The court said the Second Amendment is not an adequate basis for lawsuits attacking local gun ordinances.

Chicago officials immediately praised the decision by the 7th U.S. Court of Appeals.

A panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that included Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor reached a similar conclusion about the reach of the Second Amendment in a case from New York.