By Illinois Review
On Wednesday afternoon, the Effingham County Court entered a dismissal of the consolidated litigations brought by former Republican AG candidate Tom DeVore on behalf of more than 7000 Illinoisans against Gov. JB Pritzker’s assault weapons ban. The dismissal was entered sua sponte–on the Court’s own accord–without any request by the AG’s office and without any opportunity for the plaintiffs to be heard. The Court’s dismissal simply cites the recent Illinois Supreme Court ruling in a similar, but unrelated case brought by IL State Rep. Dan Caulkins.
As Illinois Review previously reported, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against Caulkins’ as there was nothing in the record to prove that the exempted classes of people in the assault weapons ban were not justified. In February, the Illinois Supreme Court declined to consolidate Caulkins’ case with DeVore’s cases on the basis that Caulkins’ case was procedurally distinct. Notably, Caulkins’ case was based only on legal issues, and as the Illinois Supreme Court stated in its opinion, Caulkins had waived all other challenges to the assault weapons ban.
DeVore intends to seek reconsideration of the Effingham County Court’s dismissal and to appeal the matter if necessary. His press release follows.
