Judge puts partial stop to assault-style weapons ban in Illinois
CHICAGO (CBS) – A judge is temporarily blocking some of the State of Illinois' new ban on assault weapons – though there are limits on to whom the ruling applies.
As CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reported Friday night, it has been a mere nine days since Gov. JB Pritzker signed the assault weapons ban into law. It is already moot now – but only for several hundred people who signed up to be part of a specific lawsuit out of downstate Effingham County.
The judge's order is effective immediately.
The decision came after a lawsuit filed by a former Republican candidate for attorney general, Tom Devore. He said he's representing hundreds of people from dozens of counties who argue the law violates their constitutional rights.
They were seeking a restraining order to block enforcement of the ban.
Judge Joshua Morrison's ruling only applies to plaintiffs listed in the lawsuit filed in Effingham County. Accuracy Firearms of Effingham was the lead plaintiff, along with those hundreds of individuals.
Under the order, the ban will not be enforced for a total of 866 plaintiffs – four of them licensed firearms dealers, and the rest Illinois state residents from 87 counties, including Cook.
Gov. JB Pritzker said he was not surprised by the judge's decision on the Protect Illinois Communities Act late Friday afternoon.
"This decision is not surprising," Pritzker said in a statement. "Although disappointing, it is the initial result we've seen in many cases brought by plaintiffs whose goal is to advance ideology over public safety. We are well aware that this is only the first step in defending this important legislation."
Pritzker added he remains confident the courts will uphold the constitutionality of the law, which advocated it was in line with similar laws in eight other states.
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) said in a statement, "We passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act to get dangerous weapons off the street and create a safer state. This ruling will be appealed. We look forward to our day in court to zealously advocate for our neighbors who are weary of the gun violence epidemic."
The decision comes not long after several county sheriffs throughout the state, including some in the Chicago area, announced they would not enforce parts of the law.
The law, which was passed and went into effect on Wednesday of last week, had been debated for years, but found renewed support following the July 4 Highland Park parade massacre last year, which left seven people dead and dozens more wounded. The 21-year-old suspect used a legally-purchased semiautomatic weapon, prosecutors said.
"It is sad that the plaintiffs in this and other cases filed feel it is more important to allow the public to access combat weapons than to protect our human right to live freely in our communities," said Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering in a statement. "I stand with the State of Illinois as it zealously defends the constitutionality of this law, the validity of which we are confident will ultimately be upheld."
Ashbey Beasley is a survivor of the Highland Park massacre, and lobbied in Springfield just two weeks ago for the assault weapons ban.
"A setback sets us up for a comeback," Beasley said. "At the end of the day, it's one step back, but two steps forward."
Beasley said she and other activists saw the lawsuit coming, and she will keep pushing for the weapons ban. She thinks of experiencing the horror of the parade last year with her 6-year-old son.
"My son and I running during a mass shooting, and watching him lay down on the ground and beg not to die," she said. "It's senseless."
But Devore said the new assault weapons is unconstitutional. At issue is how lawmakers passed it – he says, in part, by pushing it through too quickly.
"To allow our Legislature to chronically engage in this type of lawmaking has to come to an end," Devore said.
Unlike some other claims against the ban, the Second Amendment is not mentioned in the downstate lawsuit even once.
"If they want to pass a law like this, then submit a bill, present a bill - let it go through the procedural process appropriately," Devore said.
CBS 2 Legal Analyst Irv Miller said why the lawsuit was filed in downstate Effingham County is no accident. Judge Morrison was previously State's Attorney in downstate Fayette County, and sued the state over the SAFE-T Act on similar arguments.
He is still a plaintiff in that lawsuit.
"We have 102 counties in the State of Illinois, and they picked a county where the state's attorney who became a judge's views are pretty well known," Miller said. "So it was a pretty safe bet why it was filed where it was filed."
For Beasley, she said she still has faith in the legal system.
"We will come out of this on the right side," she said.
Under the new law, long guns will be limited to 10 rounds per magazine, and handguns cannot have more than 15 rounds. It also bans "switches" — devices which convert legal handguns into assault weapons — and additionally extends the ability of courts to prevent "dangerous individuals" from owning a gun through firearm restraining orders, the governor's office said.
Under the new law, those who already own weapons on the banned list can keep them, but need to register them with Illinois State Police within 300 days.