Attorney plans to challenge Illinois’ gun registry on Fifth Amendment
grounds
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[July 28, 2023]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – The argument Illinois’ gun ban and registry
violates citizens' Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination is
expected to be made in a new challenge to the law soon.
When Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritkzer enacted the gun and magazine ban
earlier this year, the law included a requirement that those who owned
the banned firearms before the law was enacted must register them with
Illinois State Police or face criminal penalties.
The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects individuals from
self-incrimination. Attorney Thomas Maag’s initial lawsuit against
Illinois’ gun and magazine ban included that argument alongside claims
the law violates the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms and
the 14th Amendment right of equal protection.
Maag’s Fifth Amendment arguments were put on hold when his case was
consolidated with three other cases in the Southern District of Illinois
to focus on the Second Amendment claims. After securing a preliminary
injunction against the law, the state appealed to the Seventh Circuit
Court of Appeals which issued a stay on the injunction.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Jul/28/images/ads/current/graue_sda_042021.png)
Illinois State Police said firearms purchased during that six-day window
when the state was enjoined from enforcing the ban are still illegal and
won’t be eligible to register with their database once it’s open.
The Southern District cases were then consolidated with other Second
Amendment cases from the Northern District with oral arguments heard
last month. It’s unclear when the three-judge appeals court panel will
release its ruling. It’s expected to go to the U.S. Supreme Court either
way.
Separate from the consolidated cases before the appeals court, Maag
expects to file the Fifth Amendment lawsuit in the weeks ahead.
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![](../images/072823PIX/news_c7.jpg)
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
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/May/02/images/ads/current/guzzardo_lda022609.png)
“When this whole registration period starts, if it’s not previously
enjoined that with the vagueness, with a whole host of issues, that
people will be incriminating themselves just as set forth in the U.S.
Supreme Court case of 1968 U.S. v. Haynes,” Maag told The Center Square.
Per the Protect Illinois Communities Act, Illinois State Police are to
open the registration portal for owners of grandfathered firearms
beginning Oct. 1. If the law is upheld in the courts, residents face
criminal penalties for not registering their firearms by Jan. 1, 2024.
“So we do intend to file papers on that in the coming couple of weeks
addressing that issue before hopefully people are damaged by the
registration requirement that’s set to start in October,” Maag said.
If upheld by the courts, the law also says after this October, and
"every October 1 thereafter, the Illinois State Police shall, via
rulemaking, identify, publish, and make available on its website, the
list of assault weapons subject to an endorsement affidavit.”
“The list shall identify, but is not limited to, the copies, duplicates,
variants, and altered facsimiles of the assault weapons … and shall be
consistent with the definition of ‘assault weapon’ identified” in the
law,” the law says.
There are more than 2.4 million Illinois Firearms Owner Identification
card holders in the state. It’s unclear how many of them own variants of
the banned firearms, or what kind of compliance rate there could be. In
other states like California, gun registry compliance has been below 5%.
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