Illinois' gun and magazine ban in federal court Wednesday
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[April 07, 2023]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – This week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said there are
limits to the Second Amendment. Next week, he will be defending that
position in federal court. A fellow defendant in the case says the
state’s gun and magazine ban should be overturned.
On Wednesday, Pritzker said his gun and magazine ban is meant to curb
gun violence.
“There is a Second Amendment to the Constitution, but there are limits
to what that means,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Champaign.
“One thing it doesn’t mean is that everybody in every circumstance
should be able to get a hold of every gun.”
Pritzker enacted a ban on more than 170 semi-automatic weapons and
magazines on Jan. 10. The first lawsuit was filed a week later in
Crawford County by attorney Thomas Maag. That was then transferred to
federal court and is now consolidated with three other cases with a
hearing set for Wednesday afternoon in East St. Louis.
In a filing last month, the state argued modern firearms were not in
common use when the Second Amendment was ratified in 1788, and the
state’s law looks to address “dramatic technological changes” that
created weapons beyond self-defense.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/07/images/ads/current/safetytip_sda_topflight_2023.png)
Maag said the state’s arguments equating commonly owned modern rifles to
hydrogen bombs is absurd.
“It is so far out of the realm that I can’t believe that a lawyer
actually wrote it,” Maag told The Center Square. “That tells me the
governor himself or the attorney general himself is just playing
politics with this.”
Another lawsuit that was filed against Illinois’ gun ban comes from the
McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office. That case is pending in the
Northern District of Illinois federal court.
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![](../images/040723PIX/news_d5.jpg)
Multiple pages of an exhibit in the
state's response to a legal challenge of Illinois' gun ban
Greg Bishop / The Center Square
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Apr/07/images/ads/current/beescub_lda_SFARM_2023.png)
Uniquely, McHenry County is on the other side as a defendant in the
Southern District where assistant State’s Attorney Troy Owens said they
mostly side with the plaintiffs. The only difference Owens said they
have with plaintiffs is that McHenry County shouldn’t be held liable for
attorneys fees if defendants lose the challenge of the gun ban.
“We’re the only defendants in the Southern District who’s taken a
position that the plaintiffs [declaratory judgment action], injunction
should issue, because [the Protect Illinois Communities Act] is
unconstitutional because of [New York State Rifle and Pistol Association
v. Bruen],” Owens told The Center Square.
Plaintiffs argue the state cannot ban commonly owned firearms under the
Bruen standard issued by the U.S. Supreme Court last summer. They argue
that standard sets a new precedent for Second Amendment cases to base
rulings on “text and tradition” of the amendment, not on a balancing of
public safety interests over civil liberties.
It’s unclear when the federal judge would rule on a motion for a
preliminary injunction. If one is issued, the law would be halted
pending an expected appeal.
The federal cases challenging the law on Second Amendment grounds are
different from the state-level cases challenging the law on equal
protection grounds. Plaintiffs argue the ban is unconstitutional because
it doesn’t apply to active or retired police or others in the law
enforcement or security sectors. Those cases are pending with a case
from Macon County to be heard by the Illinois Supreme Court in mid-May.
Greg Bishop reports on Illinois government and other
issues for The Center Square. Bishop has years of award-winning
broadcast experience and hosts the WMAY Morning Newsfeed out of
Springfield. |