Pritzker adamant on appealing judge's ruling against Illinois' gun ban

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is adamant the state must appeal a federal judge’s ruling that its gun and magazine ban is unconstitutional.

On the House floor Tuesday, state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, said the state’s gun ban was deemed unconstitutional by Southern District of Illinois federal Judge Stephen McGlynn. He said the Pritzker administration needs to drop the appeal.

“We’re going to spend a lot of time and a lot of money fighting against a law that is blatantly unconstitutional,” Caulkins said. “We’ve spent millions of dollars fighting against this law that you know, we know and now a judge has said is unconstitutional.”

Wednesday, Pritzker said he intends to fight for the law the legislature passed and he signed.

“What we passed frankly is reasonable, nobody is grabbing anybody's guns like the Republicans like to say,” Pritzker said. “We’re simply trying to keep people safe with the guns that are already out there and not add to the problem.”

Illinois banned the sale and possession of more than 170 semi-automatic firearms in January 2023. McGlynn’s permanent injunction against the law is not in effect until Dec. 8, unless the appeals court extends the hold on his ruling.

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said the law keeps “weapons of war” off the streets.

“And I’m unapologetic about our appeal and working with partners to make sure we keep these weapons out of the hands of people who do harm with them,” Raoul said Tuesday.

McGlynn said the banned semi-automatic weapons are not the same as military issued firearms and it’s unconstitutional to ban law abiding citizens from having access to commonly owned firearms.

Caulkins said instead of appealing McGlynn’s ruling, all sides need to come together to find solutions to violent crime without violating law-abiding citizens’ rights.

“And let's get together and solve this problem of unlawful guns in the hands of criminals,” Caulkins said. “We can do better. Let’s use our precious resources to solve problems.”

As of Wednesday, the appeals court has not received the state's appeal. The state did file a notice of appeal Friday with the district court.