Dan Caulkins, pictured above at the Sangamon County Guns Save Life meeting, and his attorney Jerry Stocks from Decatur successfully blocked Gov. Pritzker’s Illinois Firearms Ban Act in state court with a decision issued this afternoon in Macon County. The decision by Circuit Court Judge Rodney Forbes blocks enforcement of the law “as if it never existed.”
In other words, unlike the temporary restraining orders issued earlier, this one allows gun shops and Illinois FOID holders to buy America’s favorite rifle and similar guns, along with magazines to feed them without worries that the state would come back on them at a later time.
Better get your purchases in the pipeline because we guarantee you Kwame Raoul is going to try to get the Illinois Supreme Court to reverse this decision.
As for the federal lawsuit, it surely looks as though our suits remain valid as the law in its entirety has not been ruled unconstitutional.
What’s even more remarkable is that Caulkins made this happen while spending less than $20,000 to cover every FOID holder in Illinois.
The Center Square has the report:
(The Center Square) – A Macon County judge has declared Illinois’ gun ban and registry unconstitutional, setting up a direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.
The move means the law is not enforceable statewide pending appeal, according to attorney Jerry Stocks, who represents state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, in his challenge to the ban.
Following a status hearing Friday afternoon in the case, Judge Rodney Forbes signed an agreed order declaring the measure unconstitutional.
“Well-established Illinois authority provides that a law declared unconstitutional pursuant to a facial challenge is void, as if the law never existed, and is unenforceable in its entirety, in all applications,” Stocks said in a statement after the order was issued.
Forbes initially took the final order under advisement Friday, but he signed it a couple hours later.
Forbes’ hands were essentially legally tied because Illinois’ 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, a higher court, already upheld a earlier ruling granting a temporary restraining order preventing enforcement of the ban against named plaintiffs only. But Stocks said Friday’s order is effective statewide.
Hallelujah and pass the freedom seeds! And the standard capacity “feeding devices”. But seriously. We needed this.
Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. Good for Dan and good for Illinois! Cue the sad trombone for Kwame Dafool, Bozo Morgan and JB Hitler. That Highland Park meeting that Bozo is holding on Monday ought to be a rager now!
This was a judicial beatdown of the State that goes much further than the simple TRO we were expecting. The judge essentially gutted Sections 24-1.9 and 24-1.10 of the Criminal Code of 2012 (amended to 2023 in this bogus law). I read through these, and these are the sections that define what an ‘assault rifle’ is, the entire list of ‘bad’ guns, the definition of high capacity feeding devices, and the 5/10/15 round magazine limits. Reading closer, the judge ruled that the wording is so egregiously unconstitutional, that it cannot be fixed or corrected. He gutted not only the 2023 law, but anything that used these definitions. The fact that he ruled on equal protection grounds means that the State now has an extremely high bar to clear with the Supreme Court. Additionally, the judge also ruled against the State on the Special Legislation standing of the law, which was cleared done in bad faith by the GA in order to restrict strict scrutiny.
My biggest concern is that politically, the Supreme Court does not favor us in makeup. The State’s case is so fundamentally weak, that ISC probably has no choice but to uphold. If they do, it would be a great victory that would not only move us back to pre Jan. 9, but actually find that any new attempt at this type of gun control can no longer use most of the discredited methods and text. I hope for a complete victory for us.
The filing that the State made is full of tired pre-Bruen rhetoric that does not even address equal protection. It is mostly based on the now-defunct public safety argument that Bruen struck down permanently.
OUTSTANDING !!!!! Don Harmon was right when he said “see you in court” and I bet he wishes he would have kept his big mouth shut because he looks like a fool right now. And also this is basically the 10th Anniversary of Moms Demand Action and todays decision can be a nice little gift to them from the gun owners and freedom lovers of Illinois !!! All together now….HAHAHAHA !!!!!!
Harmon is an assclown, but you have to appreciate the stupidity of our opponents. If they were competent, they would be more difficult to defeat. We have the momentum – now is the time for us to go for the jugular in Illinois and beyond.
Dan Caulkins is a hero!