Judge denies state’s motion to delay response to challenge of Illinois
gun ban
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[February 17, 2023]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The state’s motion seeking a delay in its required
response to a federal lawsuit challenging Illinois’ gun ban was denied
Thursday.
Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 10 enacted the state’s ban on more than
170 semi-automatic guns and magazines of more than 10 rounds for rifles
and 15 rounds for handguns, a slew of legal challenges have been filed.
In state court, four temporary restraining orders have been issued
against the state from enforcing the law on named plaintiffs. Attorney
Thomas DeVore, who filed three of those four cases, motioned with the
Illinois Supreme Court to consolidate the cases out of Effingham, White
and Macon counties.
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In federal court, a Crawford County case was transferred from state
court to the Southern District of Illinois. Also in the southern
district are separate cases from the Illinois State Rifle Association,
the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Illinois Gun Rights
Alliance.
The state has already been ordered to detail “each and every item
banned” in its response to three of the federal lawsuits challenging the
gun and magazine ban. That order came down Monday.
On Tuesday, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly, Pritzker and
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sought more time to respond to a
request in federal court for a preliminary injunction filed by the
Illinois Gun Rights Alliance. That case differs from the three other
cases in that it challenges the ban on firearms and firearms parts, not
the ban on firearms and magazines.
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On Thursday, federal Judge Stephen McGlynn issued his order denying the
motion for an extension of time to respond.
“Although these cases have not been consolidated, the Court wishes to
keep them on a similar timetable. Additionally, the Office of the
Illinois Attorney General, who recently entered in this case, represents
the state defendants in the other three matters that have deadlines of
February 28th, March 1st and March 2nd, respectively, so there is no
hardship by denying this extension,” McGlynn wrote. “As such, defendants
shall respond to [the motion] for Preliminary Injunction on or before
March 2, 2023.”
Now nearly five weeks into the ban, gun-rights advocate Todd Vandermyde
said the hardship is being felt by many.
“The problem is that you’ve got a law that is a direct infringement on
the Second Amendment and you’ve got the gun shops and the citizens of
Illinois that are suffering the most because you can’t acquire stuff,
the shops can’t sell stuff,” Vandermyde said, warning small businesses
could close the longer the cases go on.
About 60% of inventory has been pulled off the shelves for a lot of gun
shops, Vandermyde said.
“So I think it’s the Illinois gun shops and the residents that are being
harmed the most at this juncture,” he said.
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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