First Federal Lawsuit Filed Against Assault Weapons Ban
An AR-15 style rifle.
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Let the court battles begin. Late Tuesday night, the Illinois State Rifle Association announced it had filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the recently enacted assault weapons ban.
The suit was filed in federal court in the Southern District of Illinois in Benton. Along with ISRA, plaintiffs include the Firearms Policy Coalition, Second Amendment Foundation, a Randolph County gun shop, a McHenry County gun shop, and an Air Force veteran who lives in St. Clair County.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, State Police Director Brendan Kelly and six local officials are defendants in the case.
The 28 page suit, unsurprisingly, claims the assault weapons ban violates the 2nd amendment.
“The State’s enactment, and Defendants’ enforcement, of the prohibition on common semiautomatic firearms, tendentiously and inaccurately labeled assault weapons, and on certain magazines arbitrarily deemed to be of “large capacity,” denies individuals who reside in the State, including individual Plaintiffs, their customers, and other members of ISRA, FPC, and SAF, their fundamental, individual right to keep and bear common arms,” the suit claims. “By prohibiting Plaintiffs from possessing and carrying popular semiautomatic firearms and common ammunition magazines, Illinois has prevented them from “keeping and bearing Arms” within the meaning of the Amendment’s text. As a result, “[t]o justify its regulation, the government . . . must demonstrate that the regulation is consistent with this Nation’s tradition of firearm regulation.”
A spokesperson for State Police Director Brendan Kelly declined to comment on pending litigation. The Attorney General’s office has not responded to a request for comment.
Plaintiffs are asking for an injunction to stop enforcement of the law while the case is decided.
You can view the whole suit here.