Southern Illinois judge expected to rule on DeVore’s challenge to semiautomatic gun ban law
A judge in Effingham County is expected to rule Friday on the temporary restraining order request on the state’s new law that bans the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic weapons.
Fourth Judicial Circuit Judge Joshua Morrison heard arguments in the case Wednesday.
Bond County attorney Tom DeVore asked for the restraining order when he filed a lawsuit Tuesday in Effingham County alleging that lawmakers violated the state constitutional rights of gun owners in passing the law.
Attorneys for Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Attorney General Kwame Raoul have filed a motion denying the allegations and argue the law was passed properly. They have asked Morrison to reject the request for a temporary restraining order on the law that was signed by Pritzker on Jan. 10.
DeVore’s lawsuit does not address Second Amendment issues that have been cited in other lawsuits filed in Crawford County and the U.S. District Court for Southern Illinois over the gun ban law.
DeVore said Morrison’s ruling would only affect the 866 plaintiffs who are listed in the Effingham County lawsuit. They include gun shops and gun owners from across the state.
Attorneys expect Morrison’s ruling to be issued by Friday.
The new state law, which was known as House Bill 5471, bans the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, as well as large-capacity magazines and .50-caliber rifles.
The law, which is titled the Protect Illinois Communities Act, also requires people to register their semiautomatic weapons with the state.
Devore, who previously filed lawsuits against Pritzker over COVID-19 restrictions and lost the attorney general election race to Raoul in November, said he is working to “defend our people against tyranny.”
“Our Attorney General is for sale to the highest bidder politically speaking so our people are left to hire private lawyers to defend their rights against tyranny given the AG won’t do it,” DeVore said in a statement to the Belleville News-Democrat on Tuesday.
Raoul countered that he wants to protect “residents from gun violence.”
“Over the last few years, my office has become accustomed to facing a barrage of challenges to newly-enacted state statutes and executive orders,” Raoul said in a statement to the BND.
“As we have done previously, we are prepared to defend the Protect Illinois Communities Act in courtrooms around Illinois. As in other actions, we recognize that the act’s constitutionality will ultimately be decided by a higher court, and we will continue to defend it throughout the appellate process. This law is an important tool in our fight to protect Illinois residents from gun violence, and in the event that a court stays the statute’s effective date pending appellate review, we are committed to pushing for a quick resolution.”
Along with Pritzker and Raoul, the lawsuit also listed House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon as defendants. Welch and Harmon could not be reached for comment.
Constitutional issues
Here are arguments regarding the state constitutional complaints alleged in the Effingham County lawsuit:
▪ The law violates the “single issue rule of the Illinois Constitution,” according to the lawsuit.
House Bill 5471 “originated as an act making very modest changes” to the Illinois Insurance Code regarding contracts, according to the lawsuit. Amendments were made to the bill on “numerous unrelated subjects as compared to the original act,” the suit alleges.
Attorneys for Pritzker and Raoul denied this allegation.
“Their single-subject challenge fails because every provision in the Act relates to a single subject: the regulation of firearms,” their motion states.
▪ The law violates the “equal protection clause of the Illinois Constitution,” according to the suit.
The law does not apply to some persons including law enforcement officers, “qualified retired” law enforcement officers and members of the military while performing their officials duties.
The lawsuit alleges these exemptions are “indisputably in violation of the Plaintiffs equal rights to be treated the same as their fellow citizens who are similarly situated in regard to their individual and fundamental constitutional rights to bear arms for self-defense.”
In response, the attorneys for Pritzker and Raoul state “The Act’s exceptions for professionals with specialized firearms training and experience, such as law enforcement and members of the military, easily survive rational basis scrutiny.”
▪ The law violates the “three readings clause of the Illinois Constitution.” The lawsuit alleges the Senate read the amended bill once and that it was “not read all in the House.”
However, the attorneys for Pritzker and Raoul stated that the state constitution allows the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate to certify a bill and that the Supreme Court has ruled this process can stop “all litigation challenging certified legislation for failure to comply with the three readings requirement.”
▪ The law violates the “due process clause of the Illinois Constitution,” according to the lawsuit.
The attorneys for Pritzker and Raoul raised several issues against this allegation.
“Courts have rejected attempts to base due process claims on an alleged infringement of the right to bear arms, as Plaintiffs do here,” their motion states.
This story was originally published January 19, 2023 at 4:12 PM.
