ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REVIEW GUN LAWS

4/4/25

Gun rights advocates in Illinois are asking the US attorney general to come and review how the state may be violating residents’ Second Amendment rights.

Attorney General Pam Bondi was recently quoted saying the Second Amendment is not a second-class right after investigating delays in gun permits being issued in California.  She said the US Department of Justice will not stand idly by while states and localities infringe on the Second Amendment rights of ordinary, law-abiding Americans.

Illinois State Rifle Association’s Ed Sullivan said they’ve been in talks with the Trump administration.  “I think it’s timely that Attorney General Bondi would want to come in and talk to us,” Sullivan told The Center Square.  “She should tackle kind of the most onerous states in the nation when it comes to anti-gun laws and so we certainly welcome anything that they want to do to kind of look at this process.”

Several Illinois gun laws, including the state’s ban on certain guns and the Firearm Owner’s ID card, are tied up in federal and state litigation.

Illinois gun owners continue to wait for some finality in the challenges against whether a state can ban commonly owned firearms.

Last fall, a federal district judge found Illinois’ gun ban unconstitutional, but that ruling remains at bay while the appeals court has the case.  Sullivan said it’s a waiting game.  “We would have hoped to have something move along faster than it has but we are at the whims of the courts,” Sullivan said.

The US Supreme Court hasn’t taken up a gun ban challenge out of Maryland yet while Colorado just approved a gun ban of their own. Sullivan said patience is tough to come by.  “I know it’s maddening for the typical gun owner that thinks it’s unconstitutional, that believes it’s unconstitutional,” he said.

Illinois’ ban on more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities enacted in January 2023 remains in effect.