Illinois Assault Weapons Ban On Trial In Second Amendment Challenge

EAST ST. LOUIS, IL — The first trial on the constitutionality of the statewide assault weapons ban passed in response to the Highland Park shooting got underway this week in federal court.

In a bench trial in Southern Illinois federal court, gun shop owners and gun rights advocacy groups argue that the ban violates the Second Amendment, while state officials contend that the firearms banned by the Protect Illinois Communities Act are too similar to military-grade weapons and regulating them is consistent with historic traditions.

U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, who is presiding over the case and also acting as the jury, previously issued a temporary injunction against the law. His April 2023 ruling indicated he believed the law would likely be found unconstitutional.

That halted its enforcement temporarily, but McGlynn's decision was overturned by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that the state had a strong case for the law’s constitutionality.

So, the appellate judges did not definitively rule on the issue, they sent it back to McGlynn's East St. Louis courtroom for trial, just as they did in the separate challenge filed by a Naperville gun dealer in Chicago federal court.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs first called to stand Scott Pulaski, owner of Piasa Armory in East Alton.

Pulaski testified that his business has taken a major hit after the January 2023 passage of the law, which forbids the purchase of certain semiautomatic rifles, shotguns and pistols, as well as magazines that hold more than 10 rounds for long guns 15 rounds for handguns.

The gun dealer told reporters he estimated he had lost 20 to 30 percent of sales and seen a decline in users of his gun range for fear of reprisals from the state.

"It's restriction for the sake of feeling good. You heard the state's opening statement that said Highland Park, and that was absolutely a tragedy — don't let anything that I say take away from that, it was a tragedy," Pulaski said.

"But the fact that crime happens doesn't mean we restrict the rights of the law-abiding," he said. "There are millions and millions of firearms — over 400 million firearms — in the country. If law-abiding gun owners were the problem, we would have a lot more problems, I would think."

During the second day of testimony, a former engineer for Remington Firearms said that "modern sporting rifles" such as the AR-15 cannot be converted into military-grade, fully automatic assault rifles by ordinary gun users.

"I don’t think they can,” said James Ronkainen.

The gun industry veteran testified that the guns banned under the Illinois law are broadly popular among gun owners and are intended to be used legal purposes, including hunting, target shooting and self-defense, Capitol News Illinois reported.

The man charged with carrying out the July 4, 2022, Highland Park shooting allegedly used one of the guns banned under the law, a Smith & Wesson M&P15, that he was able to legally purchase online, along with several other guns.

His father has since pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct for allowing him to apply for a Firearm Owners Identification Card, and families of the victims are suing J.B. Pritzker's administration in the Illinois Court of Claims, alleging negligence by the Illinois State Police giving a gun license to the alleged shooter despite a "clear and present danger report" filed by Highland Park police.

After he acquired the gun, no one among the two groups of people — family members or law enforcement personnel — petitioned a court for a firearm restraining order that could have resulted in a judge's order disarming the accused mass shooter.

Attorneys for the office of Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who are defending the constitutionality of the state law before a federal judge appointed in 2020 by President Donald Trump, aim to call witnesses to testify that guns banned under the law are effectively the same from M-16s used by the military.

The trial is expect to conclude by the end of the week, and McGlynn's ruling is anticipated within about a month.

Regardless of what happens, his order will be appealed to the 7th Circuit and then, likely, to the U.S. Supreme Court, which has declined to intervene in pending Illinois challenges to last year's gun ban.

Related:

• Families Of Parade Shooting Victims Sue Illinois State Police For $58 Million
• Ban On Carrying Concealed Guns On CTA, Metra Ruled Unconstitutional
• Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Triggers Gun Buying Boom, FBI Data Shows
• Highland Park Shooting Victim's Family Sues Gunmaker Smith & Wesson