This week, an appellate court in Illinois upheld a temporary restraining order on a gun control law that bans so-called “assault weapons,” high-capacity magazines and other “rapid-firing devices.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul (D) plans to appeal the ruling, according to WGNTV.
The “Protect Illinois Communities Act” was signed into law by Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker in response to a mass shooting that occurred in Highland Park last year.
“[For] too long people have lived in fear of being gunned down in schools, while worshipping, at celebrations or in their own front yards. This legislation will stop the spread of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches and make our state a safer place for all,” Prizker said in a statement when he signed the law.
After he signed the legislation, hundreds of Second Amendment supporters, including gun shop owners, filed a lawsuit to block it from taking effect, which Townhall covered. The lawsuit was led by Thomas Devore, who previously ran on the Republican ticket for attorney general. And, other lawsuits filed by gun ownership organizations began mounting up against the law, pointing out that it is unconstitutional.
On Jan. 24, in an emergency hearing, Effingham County Joshua Morrison issued a restraining order against the law. In his decision, he wrote that the plaintiffs were “immediately and irreparably harmed each day in which their fundamental right to bear arms is being denied.”
Leading up to Pritzker signing the legislation, Predictably, firearm sales spiked at some gun stores leading up to the gun control law. At Maxon Shooter’s Supplies in Des Plaines, Illinois, handgun sales doubled and rifle sales were 10 times what they were over the past year in the days leading up to the gun ban, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“There’s been quite a rush of people trying to get in under the wire,” store owner Dan Eldridge told the outlet. “Obviously, the law-abiding gun owners are concerned. And they’re voting with their wallets.”
In addition, sheriffs from across the state have come forward saying they will not enforce the law. In public remarks, Pritzker threatened to fire them for doing so.