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In the Southern District of Illinois, four cases are pending.
One is from the Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois.
Plaintiffs in that case filed a motion for preliminary
injunction last week.
In three other cases, federal Judge Stephen McGlynn ordered
state defendants to provide “illustrative examples of each and
every item banned” under state law.
Thomas Maag, who brought the state level Crawford County case
that was transferred to federal court, said the judge's order
will make it difficult for the state to comply.
“Because the ban is so all encompassing and uses a great many
vague terms that I’m not even sure that exactly what is banned
and that’s probably why judge McGlynn ordered the state to do
that so that we could find out what exactly we are arguing
about,” Maag told The Center Square on Monday.
He said “the state has a tough row to hoe,” especially given
recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent that cases regarding the
Second Amendment must review text and tradition, not a balancing
of state interest versus individual civil liberties.
“The plaintiffs in my case remain extremely confident that we’re
going to succeed on the merits of this case,” Maag said. “This
statute never should have been passed in the first place. And
applying the Bruen analysis, we believe that the days of
Illinois’ magazine and firearms ban are numbered and the number
is not very large.”
Maag predicted a ruling on a preliminary injunction, which he
said asks the court to prohibit enforcement of the statute
pending final resolution of the case, could come sometime in
mid- to late-March or early April.
The state has until Feb. 28 to respond in Maag’s case. In the
case brought by the Illinois State Rifle Association, the state
has until March 1 to respond and March 2 to respond in the case
brought by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
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.
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