(The Center Square) – Another challenge to Illinois’ gun ban from attorney Thomas DeVore has been filed, and this one has twice the number of plaintiffs.
Earlier this month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted a law banning the sale of certain semi-automatic firearms and magazine capacities. Gun stores were immediately prohibited from selling such items to anyone other than certain individuals like law enforcement. The law grandfathers in already owned guns and magazines, but guns have to be registered with Illinois State Police by Jan. 1, 2024.
An Effingham County judge on Friday issued a temporary restraining order preventing the state from enforcing the gun ban on 866 plaintiffs who sued, including several gun stores. With that TRO in place, the plaintiffs can buy and sell the more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines that were banned by the state legislature and Pritzker.
As Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Pritzker vowed, the ruling has been appealed. The Attorney General filed a petition on January 23 in the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon, seeking review of the ruling from Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison.
In that filing, Raoul's lawyers argue Judge Morrison's decision was "replete with legal errors." The Attorney General asserted Judge Morrison incorrectly and improperly issued his temporary restraining order based on claims under the Illinois state constitution concerning the way in which Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly approved the weapons banning law.
The Attorney General asserted Morrison could not issue a restraining order under those constitutional claims, because the plaintiffs can't advance any protected interest claims under those provisions. Further, the Attorney General said, the claims are based on legislative process, and the Illinois Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that, if state legislative leaders say the procedural rules spelled out in the state constitution have been followed, then the courts shouldn't overrule them.
Further, the Attorney General argued Judge Morrison applied by the wrong standard of legal review to the plaintiffs' claims. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that claims concerning infringement of the right to keep and bear arms should be handled by the most stringent level of review, known as "strict scrutiny," which is reserved for so-called "fundamental rights."
However, the Attorney General noted the plaintiffs' lawsuit included no such claims. Rather, the lawsuit was based entirely on the Illinois state constitution. And the Attorney General argued the right to keep and bear arms included in the Illinois state constitution is not a fundamental right, because the state constitution allows the state to limit that right, as it makes the right subject to the state's so-called police power. So, the Attorney General said, the judge should have applied the standard of review known as "rational basis." Under that standard, the state would only need to demonstrate that its firearms restrictions are based on a legitimate government interest. In this case, the Attorney General said the state's interest lies in preventing firearms deaths and mass shootings.
The Attorney General is asking the Fifth District court to overturn Morrison's order.
Over the weekend, DeVore was signing on new plaintiffs for a separate yet similar challenge. He answered questions during a live video Sunday.
“How many plaintiffs in the second case? … I don’t want to give that away,” DeVore said. “I’m going to let the governor hang in suspense and he’ll find out … when we file this thing. I’m really pleased with the support because we’re going and we’re going to go off into federal court and we’re going to get the governor's attention in a bigger way than we’ve already got.”
Monday, DeVore announced the second case was filed in White County where he has 1,690 plaintiffs, 62 of which are gun stores, spanning across 92 counties.
“Really, what you guys are doing right now is hiring a lawyer to defend your rights that the attorney general of the state of Illinois [Kwame Raoul] should be defending for you,” DeVore said. “That’s really his job is to defend you. He’s not defending you. He’s defending the governor.”Pritzker gave Raoul $1 million in his reelection campaign against DeVore in November.
Earlier this month, Raoul defended the gun ban.
“Once the legislature passes legislation and the governor attaches his signature to it, it’s the law of the land,” Raoul said.
A separate state-level case out of Crawford County challenges the gun ban and registry on several grounds, including the Second, Fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. That has yet to have a hearing scheduled.
A federal case from the Illinois State Rifle Association has sent out summonses, but a hearing date has yet to be set. A separate federal court case is expected to be filed soon.
Cook County Record Editor Jonathan Bilyk contributed to this report. The original version of this report was published at The Center Square.