SE Illinois News

Gallatin County State's Attorney Douglas J. Dyhrkopp will not enforce the state’s sweeping assault ban signed into law in early January by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Dyhrkopp said that HB 5471 "involves banning firearms that are in common use all across the state for legal purposes," and is "consistent with United States Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller, Coetano v. Massachusetts, and New York State Pistol and Rifle Assn. V. Bruen." The ban, he said, "seeks to make law abiding, legal gun owners criminally liable for failing to re-register their firearms, something that was done legally, at the time they were purchased," doing nothing to prevent crime. On the other hand, it "makes failure to re-register, a Class 3 Felony, a serious crime.”  

“Citizens of Gallatin County, I am releasing this statement to go on record announcing my opposition to the legislation in House BIII 5471, which includes a gun ban, gun registry, and infringes on Constitutional Rights of our citizens,” Dyhrkopp said in a statement. “Last night the bill went back to the House from the Senate and passed, and was then signed into law by the Governor.” 

He assured residents that he will use his discretion and "all available facts when making the tough decisions. Crimes committed in our county while using a firearm will still be investigated and prosecuted with the same discretion.” 

“However, I make this pledge to the citizens of Gallatin County – I will not charge otherwise law-abiding citizens with serious crimes because of this law or one like it," Dyhrkopp said. "I will not request search warrants for otherwise law-abiding citizens' home or property for evidence based on this law or any other like it and, I will not use the criminal justice system to harass or infringe on otherwise law-abiding citizens constitutional rights with respect to this law or any like it.”

Nearly 90 percent of the state's county sheriffs are not enforcing the ban due to constitutional violations, according to Colion Noir.

Otherwise known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, the law classifies all semi-automatic weapons as assault weapons. It affects 170 types of guns commonly available in the state. The law requires that certain firearms be registered for $50 apiece. As many as five million firearms and ten million magazines in the state may be affected. Gun rights advocates have begun litigation against the state, claiming it is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, according to Chicago City Wire.

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking the law. That means the ban will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore until it can be heard in court. “We will see if the state wants to appeal. If not, we’ll work on getting this pursued to a final ruling so we can get to the merits of these issues, sooner rather than later,” DeVore, a former attorney general candidate, told The Center Square. The plaintiffs included 862 Illinois citizens from more than 80 counties and four licensed firearms dealers.

In another report, The Center Square noted more 1,690 plaintiffs came forward to fight the "assault weapon ban," joining a second lawsuit headed by DeVore after the Effingham County ruling. “How many plaintiffs in the second case? … I don’t want to give that away,” DeVore said. “I’m going to let the governor hang in suspense and he’ll find out … when we file this thing. I’m really pleased with the support because we’re going and we’re going to go off into federal court and we’re going to get the governor's attention in a bigger way than we’ve already got.” Of the nearly 1,700 plaintiffs across 92 counties in the second case, 62 are gun stores.

The Illinois State Rifle Association, the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and several gun owners from across Illinois have filed joint action in federal court against the State of Illinois over the law. "The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a motion for preliminary injunction in its federal court challenge of the recently signed ban on modern semiautomatic rifles and their ammunition magazines. The case is known as Harrel v. Raoul," SAF said in a news release. "Joining SAF are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, C4 Gun Store LLC, Marengo Guns, Inc. and a private citizen, Dane Harrel, for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorney David Sigale of Wheaton, Ill. The motion was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois."