Dupage Policy Journal

Lawsuits challenging gun laws in Illinois are underway in both state and federal courts, targeting the recently enacted gun and magazine ban as well as the Firearm Owner's Identification (FOID) card requirement.

Reply briefs in the gun ban challenge are due on June 26, with the case scheduled to be argued on June 29. Wheaton attorney David Sigale of the Law Firm of David G. Sigale, P.C. said the way to stop gun violence is not by criminalizing hundreds of thousands of average citizens.

“The way to solve this problem is not to strip the rights away from and criminalize the behavior of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of law-abiding people of this state,” Sigale told The Center Square.

The gun ban signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker in January prohibits the sale and possession of certain semi-automatic firearms and magazines with high capacities. Federal courts in the Southern and Northern districts had differing outcomes, with the Southern District issuing a preliminary injunction against the state, which was later reversed and consolidated with cases from the Northern District. The state argues that the ban is necessary due to the advanced technology of modern firearms and recent mass shootings, while plaintiffs contend that firearm technology is not new and that stripping rights away from law-abiding citizens is not the solution to addressing violent crime. 

A separate case challenging the constitutionality of Illinois' FOID law is under review by a Sangamon County judge. The FOID card requirement, in place for decades, mandates that individuals in Illinois must possess a valid card to purchase or own firearms and ammunition. John Boch, the founder of Guns Save Life, brought the case in 2019, arguing that recent Supreme Court precedent requires courts to evaluate the text, history, and tradition of the Second Amendment in such challenges.

In a brief prepared for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, the plaintiffs argue the Supreme Court's previous ruling that the Second Amendment protects the possession and use of firearms in common use. The statement of issues presents two main questions for consideration: whether the district court correctly held that the ban violates the Second Amendment and whether the district court acted appropriately in granting injunctive relief. The filing argues that labeling these firearms as "assault weapons" and standard magazines as "large capacity ammunition feeding devices" does not remove them from Second Amendment protection, as they are owned by millions of law-abiding Americans for self-defense.

“As their ubiquity indicates, these are not newfangled innovations that demand novel government intervention. Semiautomatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns of the sort Illinois now bans have been around for generations, as have feeding devices that hold more than 10 or 15 rounds, and they have been lawful both in Illinois and throughout the rest of the country for the better part of a century. Indeed, it was common ground as recently as the 1990s that these common arms—now lawfully kept and borne by millions of law-abiding Americans—are 'lawful,'” the filing reads.

The filing criticizes Illinois for imposing a sweeping ban on nearly 1,000 models of firearms and ammunition-feeding devices that have been in common use for generations. It asserts that the ban is out of step with the nation's history of regulating firearms and calls for the court to uphold the district court's decision to enjoin HB5471, the ban.

The Illinois State Rifle Association filed its briefs which will be followed by oral arguments on June 29, according to Prairie State Wire. Afterward, they anticipate moving on to the Supreme Court. The case has gained attention as the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has consolidated multiple lawsuits against the ban, and Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett is considering a temporary hold on the legislation. They criticize the state's claims in their brief that AR-15s are not in common use, arguing that statistics show they are the most commonly used firearms. ISRA also disputes the state's assertions that AR-15s are unsuitable for hunting, self-defense, or other lawful purposes.