Prairie State Wire

Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore shared his continued dismay with the Protect Illinois Communities Act which was ruled unconstitutional by an Effingham Court and was upheld by the Fifth District Appellate Court. 

The former Republican candidate for attorney general won a temporary restraining order against HB 5471. The state appealed and the appellate court upheld "the count alleging a violation of equal projections under the law because it exempts certain employees of law enforcement and security sectors from the new ban," according to The Center Square. 

“One, this is not about [police] training, it has nothing to do with training, it doesn’t make any sense,” DeVore told The Center Square. “And to the extent it is about training, we have a right to then seek that training as well as citizens and not lose our right to purchase and possess and not register these weapons.” 

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said his office would request an expedited review from the Illinois Supreme Court. 

“The Protect Illinois Communities Act is an important tool in what must be a comprehensive approach to addressing gun violence throughout Illinois, and we remain committed to defending the statute’s constitutionality,” a spokesperson for Raoul’s office said. 

Counts one through three leveled by DeVore and the plaintiff class were overruled by the appellate court. Those dealt with whether the Illinois General Assembly had offered enough time for public comment on the legislation. 

“Count IV alleged that the passage of the Act violated the equal protection clause of article I, section 2 of the Illinois Constitution, and the Act should be declared unconstitutional,” the appellate court ruling reads. “Plaintiffs alleged that the 'constitutional guarantee of equal protection requires that the government treat similarly situated individuals in a similar manner.' Plaintiffs also alleged that 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9 and 720 ILCS 5/24-1.10 created different categories of citizens who are subjected to the requirements of these statutes. The plaintiffs further alleged that within the above-mentioned statutes, there were seven enumerated classifications of persons who were exempt from compliance with the provisions of those sections.” 

The plaintiffs further alleged that "'[c]reating an exempt status for those persons is not only irrational and completely lacking anything approaching common sense, there are no set of facts wherein it can survive a constitutional attack based upon equal protection regardless of the standard of review.”

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison initially ruled the law unconstitutional. The temporary restraining order he issued means the ban will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by DeVore until it can be heard in court. In the wake of the Effingham County challenge, nearly 1,700 additional plaintiffs have signed onto the legal action. “We will see if the state wants to appeal. If not, we’ll work on getting this pursued to a final ruling so we can get to the merits of these issues, sooner rather than later,” DeVore told The Center Square.

HB 5471 classifies all semi-automatic weapons as assault weapons. The ban affects 170 types of guns commonly available in the state. The law requires that certain firearms be registered for $50 apiece. As many as five million firearms and ten million magazines in the state may be affected. Gun rights advocates have begun litigation against the state, claiming it is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, according to Chicago City Wire.