On December 12th, US District Court Judge Steven P. McGlynn will hear a request by FFL-Illinois and other plaintiffs for a preliminary injunction against the registration requirement of the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA) because the statute and regulations published by the Illinois State Police are so vague that no one can tell what needs to be registered. You can read the motion here.
The deadline to register designated guns and other items is December 31. A Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) meeting is also scheduled for December 12th. JCAR will vote whether to approve the ISP proposed rules. Although we have submitted comments to JCAR pointing out the problems with the law, it is a politicized body and will likely vote along party lines to allow the ISP rules to be finalized.
According to broadcaster Greg Bishop, only 0.017% of the 2,415,481 FOID card holders have registered anything with the state. FFL-IL argues that the rules about what exactly must be registered are confusing and unconstitutionally vague and that FOID card holders and other gun owners were not given adequate notice of the need to register anything. Confusion and lack of awareness of the requirement may be a big reason that people aren’t registering.
A three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled (wrongly) that the law was constitutional. FFL-IL and other plaintiffs have filed a request for an en banc hearing to review that decision before the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals. An en banc hearing would cause all fourteen judges on the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the ruling by the three judge panel. Requesting en banc review should help make the cases more likely to be heard by the Supreme Court if necessary.
2ALC is coordinating amicus briefs to file in the en banc court, or the Supreme Court.