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.
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