Well, it’s been a big finish to a big week. We filed our suit as the Illinois Gun Rights Alliance this week, as did the other heavy-hitter, the NRA-backed case featuring the Bruen attorney Paul Clement. “Bazooka Tom” announced on his Facebook page that he will file his third lawsuit next week. And Kwame Raoul and the Illinois State Police have moved to consolidate all of the gun ban challenges to a single case in federal court.
Yes, we filed. Yes, we drew a good judge who recused himself. Now it looks like we have a decent judge. But Kwame and ISP have moved to consolidate all of the cases in front of an Obama-appointed federal judge in East St. Louis. Good judge for them. And Kwame is playing games with which case to make the lead case. HINT: He’s not picking the strongest case with the strongest attorneys.
From the Center Square:
(The Center Square) – Illinois State Police are looking to consolidate several federal cases challenging Illinois’ gun ban into one.
The Crawford County state-level case filed earlier this month was the first case to be filed in state court after Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the ban on more than 170 semi-automatic guns and magazines over a certain capacity. The measure also requires gun owners to register the banned guns they own with Illinois State Police no later than Jan. 1, 2024.
Langley et al v. Kelly et al. alleges the law violates the Second, Fifth and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. That’s the right to keep and bear arms, the right to not incriminate yourself which plaintiffs attorney says is done by requiring registration of guns the government defines as banned “assault weapons,” and the right to equal protection under the law.
Since the Crawford County case was filed, there have been two other state-level cases filed and at least three other federal cases filed challenging the ban.
Earlier this week, the Crawford County state-level case was moved from state court to the Illinois southern district federal court. The case is now in the hands of Chief Judge Nancy Rosentengel of the U.S. Southern District of Illinois, an appointee of former President Barack Obama.
Thursday, Illinois State Police motioned to consolidate Langley et al v. Kelly et al. with three other cases filed in federal court: Illinois State Rifle Association’s case Harrel, et al. v. Raoul, et al.; Illinois Gun Rights Alliance’s Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, et al. v. Pritzker, et al; and the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Barnett, et al. v. Raoul, et al.
The ISP motion says similar cases are typically combined into lower-numbered cases, which ISP says is the Langley case that was filed Jan. 1, 2023.
“Consolidating the cases will prevent unnecessary duplication of litigation in four different cases, promoting judicial economy. And as each case is at the initial stages of litigation, no party will be prejudiced by the consolidation,” ISP’s motion says.
What’s not clear is how Bevis et al v. City of Naperville, Illinois, which was filed Sept. 07, 2022, plays into the consolidation request. While the Bevis case originally was focused on Naperville’s gun ban, plaintiffs this week expanded the federal case to include challenging Illinois’ gun ban.
“The National Association for Gun Rights is also asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to block the statewide gun ban,” the National Association for Gun Rights said in a statement this week.
UPDATE: Here’s Todd Vandermyde…
Never fear though. This stunt is only a mild delaying tactic and will give our legal team and the NRA attorney Paul Clement an opportunity to work their magic.
Meanwhile Bazooka Tom announced today he’s filing his THIRD lawsuit against the new gun ban, this time probably in Pike or Adams Counties. While I think he’s grabbing $200 bills off the money tree in a bit of a cash grab, his hearings are providing us with valuable information on how the State of Illinois is going to try to defend this botched abortion of legislation.
Yeah, I know DeVore’s drawn some harsh criticism. But look at it this way: Where else could you file a lawsuit for $200 and have at least a fair chance of winning it? Heck, I’ve spent $200 at the gambling boat a couple of times in my life (only once did I walk out with more than I came with though…), and Lord knows I’ve shot up a couple of hundred bucks in ammo for fun countless times in my life. (Well, in today’s prices at least.)
(Hey Tom, if you’re not a (life) member of GSL, you can join here.)
While I can’t share everything, I can say that the leaders of the Illinois Gun Rights Alliance (friendly reminder, it’s ILGRA.ORG, not .com… LOL) are already pondering our next move if our efforts to resist consolidation don’t go as planned. Frankly, it would probably be in Kwame’s best interest not to force consolidation and I’ll tell you why: if we are consolidated, it might free up resources to attack other existing gun control schemes in our state, that’s why.
While we’re here: if you have something in particular aside from challenging the FOID Act or this new “Protect Illinois Communities” gun ban, PLEASE SHARE IN COMMENTS! We’ll look for the biggest bang for our buck, so to speak, in terms of the numbers of people impacted, so suggest accordingly.
Lastly, we’re expecting a decision any day in our lawsuit challenging the FOID Act’s constitutionality. Here’s our latest filing. (Two filings after briefs were supposed to be done as I understand it… Kwame’s grasping at straws on these late briefs and forcing us to respond to them).
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