Illinois State Rifle Association confident in gun ban challenge
[June 11, 2025]
By Greg Bishop | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Plaintiffs challenging Illinois’ gun and magazine
ban are telling the federal appeals court a district judge was correct
to find the law violates Second Amendment rights.
The four plaintiffs groups from the Southern District of Illinois
consolidated cases filed their lawsuits weeks after the state enacted
the ban in January 2023. On initial proceedings, the case went up and
down the judiciary.
After a four-day bench trial on the merits last year, a federal judge
found the law unconstitutional. The state filed their appeal and the
Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals started accepting filings last
month.
The state said the ban is prohibiting dangerous firearms and addressing
unprecedented societal concerns over mass shootings.
Illinois State Rifle Association's Richard Pearson said that argument
won’t hold up.
“You can't take the right away of 105 or 120 million people because of
an incident. You could take driver's licenses away from all the people
because there are many more car accidents and there are shootings. But
that doesn't work out,” Pearson told The Center Square. “But this is a
fundamental right. So you can't take a fundamental right, because of
criminal activities.”
ISRA is part of one of the four lawsuits consolidated in the Southern
Districts.
A recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to not take a Maryland gun ban
challenge acknowledged AR-15s are commonly owned. Pearson said gun
rights will win eventually in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Gun owners march down the street toward the Illinois State Capitol
during Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day on May 14, 2025 - Greg Bishop |
The Center Square
“I actually think that they're waiting for the Illinois case,”
Pearson said. “And the reason they're waiting for the Illinois case
is there's so much more documentation in that case than there was in
the Maryland case. So when the Supreme Court makes a decision, they
want to be on solid ground. And so we have something like 10,000
pages of documentation supporting us in this case.”
The bench trial produced thousands of pages of documentation and
testimony leading an Illinois federal judge to find the law
unconstitutional. It’s now up to an appeals court.
“So that whatever side wins or whatever side loses, it doesn't
matter how you look at it, I guess, the other side will appeal to
the U.S. Supreme Court, no question,” Pearson said.
Plaintiffs groups suing the state filed their briefs in the appeals
court Friday. The state files their final briefs later this month.
Oral arguments have yet to be scheduled. |
