EAST ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn will not to preside over a challenge to an Illinois law imposing civil liability on gun makers and sellers for crimes that gun owners commit.
He granted reconsideration of his assignment on Aug. 23.
He originally took the case on account of its relation to a case in his court challenging a state law that restricts the purchase and possession of assault weapons and accessories.
McGlynn issued an injunction against the gun ban law in May.
The National Shooting Sports Foundation then sued the state over the liability law on Aug. 14.
The court clerk randomly assigned Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty on Aug. 15 but posted an order reassigning the case to McGlynn on Aug. 16.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul moved for reconsideration on Aug. 18.
His assistant, Kathryn Muse, claimed district court rules provide direct assignment of McGlynn only for actions concerning the assault weapon law.
She wrote that while both cases involve the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Attorney General’s Office, they lack the similar claims for relief and overlapping legal issues found in related cases.
Foundation counsel Gary Pinter of Edwardsville opposed the motion on Aug. 22, claiming the relationship between the cases is as direct as it is obvious.
He claimed both cases ask whether senseless crimes of a relative few can justify infringement of the constitutional rights of law abiding individuals.
He also claimed the assault weapon law deprives citizens of Second Amendment rights directly and the liability law deprives them of Second Amendment rights indirectly.
Pinter added that the state hopes liability will be so severe as to drive industry participants out of the state if not to bankrupt the industry altogether.
McGlynn transferred the case back to Beatty, stating a review of issues in the second case showed it didn’t fall so clearly within the ambit of the rule on related cases.
Beatty will preside unless a party declines consent to magistrate jurisdiction.
If that happens the clerk will assign a district judge.