Kendall County Times

The Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois (FFL-IL) is representing Illinoisans affected by the nation’s most aggressive gun ban. 

FFL-IL, located in Yorkville, the only organization representing FFL dealers in Springfield was "founded in 2017 in response to relentless attacks against Federal Firearm Licensees by anti-gun and anti-Second Amendment groups." According to its website, its "focus is primarily dealer issues in Illinois but that also affects accessibility for all IL gun owners." 

“Donate today to help us win this latest legal battle!” FFL-IL encouraging Illinoisans to support the fight against the gun ban. “Every dollar truly helps and 100% of your donation until further notice goes directly to support our legal team working to defeat the Illinois 'Assault Weapon' & Magazine ban HB5471 Enrolled Public Act 102-1116. The FFL-IL Board absorbs all ordinary overhead and operating costs for this organization. We're all in this fight together, and we appreciate any support you can provide.”  

The Protect Illinois Communities Act HB 5471 redefined all semi-automatic weapons as so-called “assault weapons.” The law requires local firearms to be registered. 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 noting it is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, Chicago City Wire reported.

In Effingham County, the gun ban has stopped after Judge Joshua Morrison issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) last week. That TRO means the law will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by 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, last year’s GOP candidate for attorney general, told The Center Square. The plaintiffs included 862 Illinois citizens from more than 80 counties and four licensed firearms dealers.

The Center Square has reported another 1,690 plaintiffs joined a second lawsuit headed by DeVore’s 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., and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), along with several gun owners from across Illinois have filed joint action in federal court against the State of Illinois over the gun ban. "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."

Altogether 85 of Illinois’ 102 counties have said they will not enforce the ban due to constitutional violations, according to Colion Noir.