EAST ST. LOUIS – Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul doesn’t want U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn to preside over a constitutional challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Firearm Industry Responsibility Act.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation sued Raoul on Aug. 14, two days after Pritzker signed the Act.
Chief District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel assigned McGlynn on Aug. 16, finding the suit related to his cases over a law on assault weapons that Pritzker signed in January.
Raoul assistant Kathryn Muse moved for random assignment on Aug. 18, stating the industry responsibility law doesn’t relate to the ban on assault weapons.
She claimed the suit didn’t mention assault weapons, the January law, or Illinois criminal code.
She claimed it exclusively challenged how the industry responsibility law amended the state consumer fraud law.
Muse added that the assault weapon cases and the industry responsibility law involved entirely distinct statutes and raised distinct questions of fact and law.
McGlynn previously entered an injunction against the assault weapon ban, and Raoul appealed.
The complaint of the National Shooting Sports Foundation stated the industry responsibility law radically expanded the industry’s liability.
Foundation counsel Andrew Lothson of Chicago claimed the law doesn’t impose liability on individuals who misuse firearms.
He claimed it regulates selling, manufacturing, and advertising of lawful products.
He claimed it regulates commerce and speech even when commerce and speech take place entirely outside of Illinois.
“The First Amendment prohibits states from punishing wide swaths of truthful speech about lawful products, even if the products are dangerous or the speech is unpopular,” he wrote.
“The Second Amendment protects commerce in arms,” he added.
“Constitutional provisions prohibit states from regulating conduct that takes place wholly beyond their borders, even when that commerce has effects within the state,” Lothson continued.
“The Due Process Clause prohibits states from punishing one private party for the conduct of another,” he wrote.
Lthson also claimed the national Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act preempted the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act.
He claimed Congress passed the Act in 2005, in response to states and cities suing to impose civil liability for misuse of firearms by third parties.
He added that Congress recognized that the suits were a coordinated effort to destroy the industry by saddling it with liability for actions of criminals.