Robert Bevis, owner of Law Weapons in Naperville, didn’t take the word-salad decision by a federal court judge sitting down. In his challenge to the Naperville ban on the sales of America’s favorite rifle and other popular self-defense firearms and the magazines that feed them, a federal judge ruled against him. But then again, U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall has a long history of getting reversed by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals on every major gun case she’s decided…
Bevis has chosen to go ahead an appeal the loss directly to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The same appeals court that a few short months ago, in oral arguments for another Second Amendment case, the chief justice said something to the effect that the Bruen decision has taken the Second Amendment from a second-class right to a SUPERCHARGED right. Another member of the same appeals court said that Bruen completely resent the playing field for evaluating 2A cases.
In other words, Kwame’s got lots of reason to have a rag in his back pocket to wipe the sweat off his brow.
As if all that wasn’t enough, there’s the multitude of additional cases, some new, challenging Prizker’s new gun ban from various angles of atteck.
The Cook County Record, a news blog that covers Illinois court news, has the latest. It’s a long, but comprehensive report, written fairly well down the middle. Translation: We can’t reprint the whole thing and you should go read it. But here’s a teaser:
Gunowners across Illinois and state officials like Gov. JB Pritzker are awaiting a ruling from a federal judge in East St. Louis on the question of whether the state can move forward with enforcement of its ban on so-called assault weapons.
In the meantime, opponents of the law are also taking the fight to a federal appeals court, filing briefs in advance of one of the next key legal battles over the fate of the sweeping ban on the sale of many of the most common firearms in circulation – a law that the southern Illinois federal judge openly worried could quickly turn many otherwise law-abiding citizens in Illinois into felons.
The list of those filing arguments before the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, include former U.S. Solicitor General Paul Clement and his law partner Erin Murphy, who together were on the winning legal team that secured the most recent big win in favor of Second Amendment rights before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The filings come as the Seventh Circuit prepares to hear arguments in an appeal brought by a Naperville gun store owner, asking the federal appeals court to toss out a decision from a Chicago federal judge in favor of the “assault weapons” ban.
In March, Robert Bevis and his shop, Law Weapons & Supply, along with the National Association for Gun Rights, filed a motion asking the Seventh Circuit to slap an injunction on the state, forbidding police and other state agencies from enforcing the ban on a long list of semiautomatic firearms, which the state has labeled dangerous “assault weapons” and the so-called “large capacity” ammunition magazines those firearms use.
The law, known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, was enacted by Pritzker and his Democratic supermajority in the Illinois General Assembly in January. The law generally prohibits Illinois residents and store owners from selling the prohibited firearms and accessories, and requires Illinois residents who currently own the otherwise-prohibited weapons to register them with the Illinois State Police.
Illinoisans who don’t comply with the law could face fines or imprisonment.
A number of lawsuits have been filed in response, asking federal or state judges to declare the law violates the U.S. Constitution and the Illinois state constitution.
Really. Go read the whole thing.
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