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Litigation

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The ISRA Legal Action / Litigation Page

Current litigation by ISRA and other organizations

ISRA V ISP

There has been a great deal of interest in the suit against the Illinois State Police relative to FOID and CCL ‘s. Below is video that depicts the interview of ISRA Executive Director Richard A Pearson. Harry Canterbury of Adventure Sports Outdoors conducts the interview.

Harrel v. Raoul (AWB/LCM case

Motion for Preliminary Injunction filed and hopefully briefed and heard soon.

Culp v. Raoul

Kevin Culp is a now-retired Colonel in the United States Air Force who was, until recently, on temporary duty in Illinois.  Because he is not an Illinois resident, he cannot get an Illinois Concealed Carry License (ICCL).  A Certiorari Petition to the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is pending.  A Certiorari Petition means that we are asking the United States Supreme Court to hear our case.  Attorney General Raoul is named because he is the Attorney General of Illinois.

BFF Firearms, et al, v. Raoul

This ISRA has filed a motion to amend the complaint following the enactment of Emergency Rules. The plaintiffs have a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the law. The State of Illinois has filed to dismiss the case.

Ryan Thomas, Goran Lazic, ISRA, SAF v. Illinois State Police

Thousands of Illinois FOID card holders have appealed the denial or revocation of their FOID cards and have not had those FOID cards returned, despite obvious situations where the restoration should have been quickly processed. In part, this problem stems from the more than $29,500,000 which was swept from the funds which prevented hiring the personnel and purchasing equipment which would fix the problem.  Complaint filed. The Illinois State Police (ISP) has not yet responded.

White, ISRA, v. Illinois State Police

Mr. White lives in a bad Chicago area. He has a FOID card and has never done anything wrong but cannot get an ICCL, mainly because he is on the Chicago gang database list. He is not and has never been a gang member. The only thing he has done wrong is grow up in a bad neighborhood. A motion to dismiss by the Defendant is pending.

Miller, ISRA, SAF v. Raoul

This is a foster parent and home daycare case. If you have a daycare home, and/or are a foster parent, the Department of Children and Family Services will only allow you to have a firearm if it is unloaded and in a safe. Also, if you have a daycare home you cannot possess a handgun at all.  They also have the right to inspect without notice.  This case is in ongoing discovery.

Easter day, ISRA, SAF v. Village of Deerfield

This is an assault weapons law preemption case. State law preempts local Municipals from passing firearm ordinances. Deerfield defied state law. The trial court ruled in the Plaintiffs’ favor and struck down the ordinance as a violation of State law. This case is presently on appeal to the Second Appellate District.

Wilson, et al, v. Cook County et al

A case brought against Cook County, challenging its “Assault Weapon” ban.  Originally filed in 2007, the case went twice to the Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court. Following the Friedman decision, the case was dismissed and refiled.  The refiled case was removed to the Federal Court. The District Court and Seventh Circuit declined Plaintiffs’ efforts to distinguish this case from Friedman, and dismissed/affirmed the dismissal of the Plaintiffs’ Complaint. A Petition of a Writ of Certiorari is before the United States Supreme Court.

Brown adv. State of Illinois

Vivian Brown had a single shot .22 rifle in her home for self-defense. She had no FOID card.  A White County Court ruled the FOID unconstitutional in the home. The State filed a direct appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court.  The Court heard arguments on the case in September, 2019. April 2, 2020, the Illinois Supreme Court has remanded this case back to the White County Circuit Court. The Illinois State Supreme Court cites issues of constitutional and non-constitutional factors.

Evans v. Illinois State Police and Cook County State's Attorney

A few months ago, an Illinois Appellate Court ruled that those who sought relief for their denied or revoked FOID cards could never get such relief because of the way the law was written. So, Alfred Evans Jr., a man with some youthful mistakes, but now a fine family man and business owner, could not get his FOID application denial reversed, even though the Appellate Court said it would do so if the law were not written in such a way that its hands were tied.

David Sigale, with co-counsel Bryant Chavez and the support of the ISRA, is litigating Mr. Evans’ case in the Illinois Supreme Court to get his wrongful interpretation of Illinois law reversed, so that Mr. Evans and other deserving individuals like him can fully enjoy their Second Amendment rights.

Ezell v. Chicago

Capitalizing on its federal appeals court victory Wednesday in Ezell v. City of Chicago, the Second Amendment Foundation today moved for a preliminary injunction against the State of Illinois to prevent further enforcement of that state’s prohibitions on firearms carry in public by law-abiding citizens.

The motion was filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Springfield. Joining SAF in this motion are Illinois Carry and four private citizens, Michael Moore, Charles Hooks, Peggy Fechter and Jon Maier. The underlying case is known as Moore v. Madigan.  The initial press release is posted on PRNewswire.

DC v. Heller

When the United States Supreme Court ruled on District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008 that Washington DC’s total ban on handguns and its strict firearms storage laws violated the right to possess firearms as protected by the Second Amendment; however. it was left unclear if that ruling was limited to the federal government, since Washington DC falls under federal jurisdiction, or if the ruling applied to state governments under the Fourteenth Amendment.

In 2010, the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation sponsored litigation on behalf of Otis McDonald and several other Chicago residents to affirm that states cannot infringe on the right to “keep and bear arms” as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.

On June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in our favor that the Second Amendment is incorporated under the Fourteenth Amendment, extending the DC v. Heller ruling to apply nationwide, and ending Chicago’s practice of banning handguns by refusing to process registrations.

Bradley v. Kelly

Tuesday, July 21, 2020, the Illinois State Rifle Association and the Second Amendment Foundation have filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking to force the Illinois State Police (ISP) to comply with the mandated 30-day requirement to issue a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card if the applicant meets all qualifications.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division, on behalf of D’Andre Bradley, David D. Moore and Tara D. Moore, and Brett O. Shelton. They are represented by attorneys David G. Sigale of Wheaton, Ill., Gregory A. Bedell of Chicago, and Jacob Huebert of Phoenix, Ariz. The case is supported by the Goldwater Institute. The lawsuit is known as Bradley v. Kelly.

Named as defendants are ISP Director Brendan F. Kelly and ISP Firearms Services Bureau Chief Jessica Trame, in their official capacities.

The law requires that the Illinois State Police either approve or deny a FOID card application within 30 days, but ISP has been dragging its feet, leaving applicants in limbo for months. In some cases, the agency does not act for as long as 90 days. These delays have gone on long enough. We had hoped to avoid litigation, but at this moment, we have no choice.

Keep the ISRA fighting for your rights in the courts.

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If you’re not an ISRA member, now is the time. You can join on-line by clicking here, or over the phone at 815-635-3198. You can download a printable application form here

Copyright 2022 ISRA.

“Ninety-eight percent of the people in this country are decent, hardworking, honest Americans. It’s the other lousy two percent that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.”

Lily Tomlin

“The people who work against your gun rights are basically saying to you, “The right of the criminal to rip you off, rape and kill you shall not be infringed.” And they wonder why we’re a bit testy”

Editor of KABA LIBERTY ADVOCATE, Friday, July 30, 2001

“I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.”

SUSAN B. ANTHONY

“You may find me one day dead in a ditch somewhere. But by God, you’ll find me in a pile of brass.”

Tpr. M. Padgett

“Using inner city kids as your proof that guns and kids don’t mix, is like using an alcoholic to prove all people will abuse alcohol.”

Lori Broadhead

“How dare politicians continue to pass insane laws forcing good, law-abiding people to be defenseless and helpless.”

Ted Nugent

The said Constitution [shall] never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe or to prevent the people of the United States from keeping their own arms.”

Samuel Adams, Massachusetts' U.S. Constitution Ratification Convention, 1788

“One of the greatest delusions in the world is the hope that the evils in this world are to be cured by legislation.”

Thomas B. Reed (1886)

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”

Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution (1776)

“Foolish liberals who are trying to read the Second Amendment out of the Constitution are courting disaster by encouraging others to use the same means to eliminate portions of the constitution THEY don’t like.”

Alan Dershowitz

“Every 13 seconds in America someone uses a gun to stop a crime.”

Sen. Larry Craig

“The AK-47 is not a device of aggression … I devised this machine-gun for the security of my country,”

Mikhail Kalashnikov, April 1997