Judge Denies Highland Park Gun-Owner's Relief From Assault Weapon Ban

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Highland Park gun owner and the National Association of Gun Rights challenging Highland Park’s ban on assault weapons and, in doing so, denied the resident’s request for preliminary relief against the city.

U.S. District Court Judge Harry Leinenweber issued his 11-page decision on Tuesday, more than a year after the NAGR and Highland Park resident Susan Goldman filed the suit asking that a judge declare the city’s 2013 ban on certain assault weapons unconstitutional.

In his decision, Leinenweber sided with the City of Highland Park in having the NAGR removed as a plaintiff moving forward and denied Goldman’s request for a preliminary injunction against the city regarding the assault weapon ban.

In denying the request for preliminary relief, the judge wrote that Goldman would bear the burden of showing that she was likely to succeed on the merits of the case and would be likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary relief.

Goldman said previously that she owns an AR-15 rifle and intends to purchase magazines holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition, both of which are forbidden within city limits under the municipal ban.

"I have possessed this property lawfully for years but I store it outside of the city limits because I fear prosecution under the Ordinance," Goldman said.

In a sworn declaration accompanying a motion for a preliminary injunction filed in October of 2022, Goldman said she would acquire more guns and ammunition and transfer them to others if it were not illegal.

The judge determined on Tuesday that the plaintiffs were not likely to succeed on the merits of their case, citing previous court judgments and other cases seeking bans on assault weapons and certain ammunition magazines that were not overturned, including one brought by a Naperville gun shop owner.

Regarding NAGR’s standing as a plaintiff in the case, Leinenweber wrote that while it is not disputed that the organization lacks standing to sue in its own right, it still may have the right to sue on behalf of its members, the ruling issued on Tuesday stated.

In a previous complaint, NAGR claimed that it has “members who reside” in Highland Park and “represents the interest of those are affected by the city’s prohibition of commonly used firearms.” However, the judge said that the organization failed to provide identifying features of those members, including names or ages, or submitted declarations from members.

In November 2022, attorneys for Highland Park filed a motion asking a judge to remove the National Association for Gun Rights, or NAGR, as a plaintiff from the lawsuit, arguing that the Loveland, Colorado-based group did not have associational standing.

"NAGR does not claim that it has standing to bring this suit in its own right; it does not allege any injury to itself as an entity," argued lead attorney David Hoffman. "Instead, it claims only that it has associational standing to sue 'in its capacity as a representative of its members.'"

The judge said that Goldman, the co-plaintiff, is a member of the organization, which instead, identified its members as a collective, the judge wrote.

That led the judge to grant the city’s motion to dismiss the organization as a plaintiff moving forward while also dismissing Goldman’s petition for the preliminary relief, which the judge characterized as an “extraordinary remedy.”

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