ILLINOIS, USA — The Fifth District Court of Illinois on Tuesday ruled to uphold a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued earlier this month against Illinois' newly-passed assault weapons ban for 866 plaintiffs in an Effingham County lawsuit.
Former Illinois attorney general candidate Thomas DeVore and DeVore Law Office, LLC are representing the plaintiffs, which include Effingham-based Accuracy Firearms LLC, in a lawsuit against the newly passed weapons ban.
"Today is a win for my clients," DeVore said in statement posted to Twitter following the ruling.
Of the 866 plaintiffs in the lawsuit, four are licensed FFL (Federal Firearms License) dealers and 862 are citizens of the state of Illinois.
The justices dissented on three counts of complaints from the plaintiffs but affirmed the TRO based on the fourth count, in which plaintiffs alleged that the exemptions provided in the gun ban violate the equal protection clause of the Illinois Constitution based on their right to keep and bear arms.
Justice James Moore filed a dissenting opinion on the ruling, arguing that the Illinois Constitution, unlike the United States Constitution, does not afford the plaintiffs a fundamental right to bear arms and "does not entitle them to strict scrutiny analysis of their count IV equal protection claim."
Following its passage in the Illinois legislature, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the assault weapons ban into law on Jan. 10. It bans the manufacture, sale and possession of dozens of brands and types of rapid-fire rifles and pistols, .50-caliber guns and some attachments.
The law allows gun owners to keep the guns they already have but requires them to register their weapons with the state.