Pro-Gun Group Lacks Standing To Sue Highland Park Over Assault Weapon Ban, City Argues

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — The pro-gun group that sued Highland Park in an effort to overturn the city's assault weapons ban lacks standing and should be removed from the case, according to attorneys for the city.

Highland Park's local ordinance defining assault weapons and forbidding their possession in town has been in place for nearly 10 years.

The local gun prohibitions were upheld by a federal appellate court in 2015, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review them later that year. Since then, about a dozen people have been cited for violations of the municipal assault weapons ban, records show.

On Sept. 7, the National Association for Gun Rights, or NAGR, and Susan Karen Goldman filed suit against the city. A hearing on their motion for a preliminary injunction to block the enforcement of the assault weapon ban is scheduled for March 8.

Goldman, purportedly a Highland Park resident and assault weapon owner, was "especially aggrieved by the fact that the City's prohibitions require her to store her arms outside the city limits," according to their complaint.

On Thursday, attorneys for the city filed an answer to Goldman's claims and a motion to dismiss all claims from the the association, arguing the pro-gun nonprofit group failed to establish associational standing.

"In short, the case must have some tie to the association through an injury to at least one of its members. Otherwise, advocacy groups could roam about demanding court adjudication of their favored causes," lead attorney David Hoffman said in a memo supporting the motion. "That is precisely what NAGR has done here."

The suit was filed just over two months after the city witnessed the deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter in Illinois history. Authorities said a 21-year-old high school dropout fired more than 80 bullets from a Smith & Wesson M&P15, killing seven people and wounding about 50 others.

Dudley Brown, the president of the gun rights association, has said his organization was targeting every federal court circuit where firearm bans had been previously upheld in light of the Supreme Court's decision earlier this year in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, which overturned New York's strict state concealed weapons restrictions.

Hoffman noted that NAGR failed to identify any member in Highland Park or allege it has any presence in town, although it claims it represents the interests of those affected by the gun ban.

"In the weeks and months since Bruen, NAGR has filed ten copycat cases challenging laws prohibiting assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, including this one, with virtually identical allegations," Hoffman said.

"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. Instead, it claims only that it has associational standing to sue 'in its capacity as a representative of its members,'" the attorney said.

"But NAGR’s allegations do not show that it meets the requirements for associational standing. Specifically, NAGR has failed to allege facts sufficient to identify at least one member with standing to bring the claims it has asserted," said Hoffman.

Hoffman, the global co-leader of the government litigation and investigations practice at the firm Sidley Austin, pointed out that Goldman herself did not assert membership in the group.

The gun rights nonprofit also lacks standing to ask for money because that would require the participation of its individual members., he argued.

In a response to Goldman's remaining claims in the complaint, attorneys for the city asserted that the City Code does not violate the Second Amendment, that the complaint fails to state a cause of action and that Goldman and the NAGR "are not entitled to any damages, costs, fees, or other relief of any kind."

Earlier: Highland Park Woman, Pro-Gun Group Sue To Overturn Assault Weapons Ban