Gun ban plaintiff may seek SCOTUS relief if appeals ruling isn’t issued soon

[August 09, 2023]  By Greg Bishop | The Center Square

(The Center Square) – One of the lead plaintiffs in the lawsuits against Illinois’ gun and magazine ban expects more lawsuits to be filed.

Law Weapons sued the city of Naperville last year and expanded its lawsuit to include a challenge of Illinois’ ban from earlier this year. Owner Robert Bevis’ request for an emergency preliminary injunction while the case played out went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, but the case is now tied up in the appeals court with a ruling still pending. He said a right delayed is a right denied.

“We expect to have some type of ruling soon. If we don’t, I’ve instructed my lawyers to file another motion to the U.S. Supreme Court asking them to step in because this is an emergency basis,” Bevis told WMAY. “People cannot buy guns and our rights are being violated.”

Law Weapons has lost a million dollars in sales since last year and legal bills have cost half-a-million dollars, Bevis said.

Another challenge Bevis said is likely deals with legislation on the governor’s desk. House Bill 218 would allow the state to sue gun manufacturers for advertising to children or showing paramilitary themes. If signed, the measure would also allow legal action against manufacturers who “knowingly create” conditions in Illinois that “endangers the safety or health of the public.”

After the bill passed, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he’ll sign the bill.

Semi-automatic firearms behind a locked cabinet at a retailer in Springfield, Illinois, with a note to who can purchase such weapons - Greg Bishop / The Center Square

“Gun violence is a public health epidemic, and those who encourage unlawful use of a firearm or target sales of firearms to minors worsen the scourge of gun violence in our communities,” Pritzker said in May. “This legislation finally protects Illinoisans from predatory actions by the firearms industry.”

Law Weapons is also a firearms manufacturer. Bevis said they’re not responsible for someone acting nefariously.

“I don’t think this is going to go very far, but if he signs it, we’ll challenge that as well,” Bevis said.

Another lawsuit Bevis expects wraps in some of the thousands of plaintiffs that have secured state-level temporary restraining orders against the state enforcing the gun and magazine ban against them. The status of those cases depends on the Illinois Supreme Court’s ruling on a separate challenge of the state’s ban still pending before the court.

“I have right now probably 75 firearms in our store that people have bought on the TRO and had shipped to our store on a legal transfer that we are unable to give them because of Naperville’s ordinance,” Bevis said.

Consolidated cases against state and local bans are pending in a federal appeals court.