Hundreds of gun owners join lawsuit against Illinois ban on semiautomatic firearms

Bond County attorney Tom DeVore filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and three other state officials alleging that lawmakers violated the state constitutional rights of gun owners in the process of passing a law that bans the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic weapons.

The lawsuit, filed in Effingham County court, has 866 plaintiffs, including Accuracy Firearms LLC of Effingham. A hearing for a temporary restraining order request was scheduled for Wednesday.

The lawsuit does not cite Second Amendment issues. Opponents of the law have argued that the law violates the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

DeVore, who previously has filed lawsuits against Pritzker over COVID-19 issues, has said he wanted to first take on the process used in passing the law before tackling the Second Amendment issues.

Along with Pritzker, the lawsuit names three Democratic officials as defendants: House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who defeated DeVore in the race for attorney general in November when DeVore ran as a Republican.

A spokesman for Pritzker’s office referred questions about the lawsuit to Raoul’s office. Raoul, Welch and Harmon could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

DeVore said he is working to “defend our people against tyranny.”

“Our Attorney General is for sale to the highest bidder politically speaking so our people are left to hire private lawyers to defend their rights against tyranny given the AG won’t do it,” DeVore said in a statement to the Belleville News-Democrat.

The new state law, House Bill 5471, bans the manufacture, purchase and sale of certain semiautomatic weapons, as well as large-capacity magazines and .50-caliber rifles.

The law also requires people to register their semiautomatic weapons with the state.

Pritzker signed the law Jan. 10. He has said he believes the law can withstand a court challenge.

Here are complaints alleged in DeVore’s lawsuit:

▪ The law violates the “single issue rule of the Illinois Constitution” regarding the topic of bills passed by state lawmakers.

▪ The law violates the “three readings clause of the Illinois Constitution.” The lawsuit alleges the Senate read the amended bill once and that it was “not read all in the House.”

▪ The law violates the “due process clause of the Illinois Constitution.”

▪ The law violates the “equal protection clause of the Illinois Constitution.”

Effingham firearms lawsuit by Mike Koziatek on Scribd