Regardless of judge’s ruling on Illinois’ gun ban, plaintiff sees long road ahead

[April 15, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – Plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit against Illinois’ gun and magazine ban continue waiting on a ruling from a judge that could block the law, but the legal battle is far from over.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the ban on more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over a certain capacity on Jan. 10. A week later, the lawsuits started to stack up in state and federal courts.

Gun control advocates say the law is necessary to reduce mass shootings. Gun rights groups say the state can’t balance constitutional rights with public interest.

Wednesday, a federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois heard oral arguments over a motion for preliminary injunction to block the law. After those arguments, Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson expected an injunction to be issued in the weeks ahead.

“But it will immediately go to the Seventh Circuit court, the state will appeal or we will appeal, however it turns out,” Pearson told The Center Square.
 

Todd Vandermyde, who is consulting with a group of gun stores challenging the law, said securing a preliminary injunction in the case is important.

“For us, this means that we reset things back to Jan. 9,” Vandermyde told reporters after the hearing. “This gives all the individuals the ability to go back to acquiring firearms that maybe they didn’t have the money back then to acquire, that they’ve been saving up and now they want to acquire.”

The Southern District of Illinois federal district court in East St. Louis - Greg Bishop / The Center Square

Dane Harrel joined as a main litigant in the ISRA case. After Wednesday’s hearing, Harrel remained cautious of the long-haul legal fight ahead.

“Everybody is in agreement, regardless of which side of the issue they’re on, that this is probably going to be a long protracted legal battle,” Harrel told WMAY. “It’s already been months, it’ll probably be in the courts for many more months if not years.”

If the judge sides with the state and keeps the law in place pending appeal, Harrel doubts a settlement comes before the Illinois law requires gun registration starting Oct. 1 and ending Jan. 1, 2024.

“I don't even want to speculate what the compliance rate is going to be and that’s going to be up to each individual to decide,” Harrel said.

In other states where gun bans require registration, the non-compliance rate is in the 90 percentile. In New York, one report showed a compliance rate of around 5%.

“They say that good policy is one where people follow. I’m not sure that’s good policy if folks that are otherwise law-abiding are going to be noncompliant,” Harrel said.

Those found out of compliance of Illinois’ magazine ban face a petty offense with a $1,000 fine per infraction. Violation of the firearms ban and registry could be a felony.

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.