The Legal Disaster of Illinois’ Gun Ban 

Amid the contentious landscape of the debate over gun violence, the Illinois state government has attempted to take this issue into its own hands: passing a constitutionally disastrous weapons ban with the potential to prove legally injurious to thousands of Illinoisans. On January 10^th, 2023, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the “Protecting Illinois Communities Act,” (PICA) a sweeping legislative act restricting the sale of common firearms labeled as “assault weapons,” in addition to most standard capacity gun magazines. With the politicized term “assault weapon” becoming a staple of gun control rhetoric, this legislation added Illinois to the list of ten total states classifying arms as “assault weapons” if they have features such as collapsible rifle stocks, pistol grips, and the ability to accept magazines of higher capacities. Despite its objective to curb gun violence in Illinois cities, PICA’s long-term impact remains uncertain given the mixed efficacy of Chicago’s firearm laws and their enforcement by police. Aside from ongoing constitutional scrutiny faced by PICA in the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals, this law has already been subject to an injunction issued by Southern Illinois Judge Stephen P. McGlynn on April 28^th, 2023. However, McGlynn’s injunction was eventually stayed by Judge Easterbrook of the 7^th Circuit who previously sided against plaintiffs in the landmark McDonald v. City of Chicago case in 2009.

In addition to legal challenges to PICA on Second Amendment grounds using the 2022 NYSRPA v. Bruen Supreme Court case as support, Pritzker’s firearms legislation has faced strong criticism due to its inception within a shell bill alongside weapon registration requirements. Originally, PICA started as SB2226, a Senate bill focused on “improving amusement park safety” and was filed in February 2021. Remaining innocuous for approximately two years, Democrat Representative Bob Morgan heavily amended SB2226 on the night of January 5^th, 2023, injecting in the language of PICA and passing the bill with minimal debate near midnight. In the blink of an eye, a bill with an explicitly different purpose was virtually transformed into one of the most restrictive gun control laws in the United States. Moreover, PICA mandated Illinois gun owners to register their regulated weapons alongside all potential “assault weapon parts” they owned with the state police by January 1^st, 2024. Interviews with Illinois State Police (ISP) indicated that the penalty for failing to register ranged from a Class A Misdemeanor to Class 3 Felony depending on the circumstances of the violation and prosecutorial discretion. With these criminal charges proving disastrous to one’s future employment, social reputation, and potentially barring them from owning firearms in the future, the consequences for noncompliance appeared dire. However, as of February 1^st, 2024, of the estimated 2.4 million Illinoisans with the “Firearm Owners IDentification” (FOID) cards required to own a gun, only 35,000 have registered items with state authorities, equating to a miniscule 1.5% compliance rate. Although not all FOID card holders possess restricted weapons, the rate of compliance with PICA’s registration requirements is exceptionally low, effectively placing thousands of Illinoisans in a precarious position of potentially facing legal prosecution for failing to register with the ISP and possessing a restricted firearm.  

Perhaps as a result of low registration numbers, the ISP has announced that it will supposedly not pursue criminal charges against those who register after the January 1^st, 2024, deadline. In a drastic reversal of the legal penalties for failing to register, the ISP has unexpectedly stated it “does not intend to act against residents who file an endorsement affidavit after January 1, 2024…[the] ISP’s goal is compliance with the law and safety.” With some Illinoisans only registering on account of susceptibility to legal prosecution, the ISP’s considerable shift offers no recourse for those pressured into registering earlier. Furthermore, by supposedly removing the risk of filing a weapon registration affidavit after the deadline, the ISP has arguably avoided a catastrophic Fifth Amendment crisis of Illinoisans self-incriminating involuntarily due to a lack of communication on PICA’s registration timeline. Not only were FOID holders not sent letters describing the registration requirements, but these individuals never even received a single email from the ISP with information about PICA. Left in the dark by state officials, only Illinoisans immersed in the topic of gun politics were aware of the developments regarding the timeline and exact requirements of registration. The lack of clarity in registration requirements was further exacerbated by pre-existing county-level gun ordinances in Illinois. Before PICA, cities including Chicago and its Northern suburbs had prohibited the storing of “assault weapons” within local limits. However, this ordinance violation was typically used only as a tack-on charge to a violent crime. Despite state laws superseding local ordinances, the Illinois legislature has allowed ordinances prohibiting “assault weapons” to stand in addition to PICA, meaning an owner of a restricted weapon could inadvertently register a firearm to a home in a neighborhood that already restricts these guns, thus opening significant room for self-incrimination, despite the ISP’s sudden reversal of rhetoric.  

By effectively criminalizing an activity that was originally legal after the fact, Illinois governmental authorities have engaged in an act of ex post facto law, a form of legislation explicitly deemed unconstitutional.

A similar legal ambiguity exists surrounding the possession of “assault weapons” purchased during the injunction to PICA. Since the law immediately banned the acquisition of new “assault weapons” on January 10^th, 2023, non-compliant guns legally purchased during the approximately week-long injunction in late April 2023 would be illegal to register since they were acquired after PICA went into law. As a result, those who legally purchased certain firearms during the injunction could not reasonably comply with PICA without engaging in self-incrimination. However, the ISP did not issue an official statement on the legality of registering new “assault weapons” until after the injunction was stayed, subsequently declaring that the possession of these new weapons would be illegal by January 1^st, 2024, without the registration affidavit. However, if one did submit an affidavit for a gun purchased during the injunction, they would be directly providing law enforcement with evidence of a crime. Having offered no guidance during the injunction window, the state police has indirectly considered lawful injunction purchases retroactively illegal and has pushed Illinoisans to self-incriminate. By effectively criminalizing an activity that was originally legal after the fact, Illinois governmental authorities have engaged in an act of ex post facto law, a form of legislation explicitly deemed unconstitutional.

Additionally, PICA’s long-term effectiveness in reducing gun violence across socioeconomic lines in areas of Chicago remains uncertain. Many political analysts have argued that the tragic 2022 Highland Park, IL shooting was a motivating factor in the state legislature passing PICA, despite having the Democratic majority needed to pass similar laws for over a decade. Although the Highland Park shooting was a horrendous incident enabled by the perpetrator’s father, similar acts of violence have plagued predominantly minority neighborhoods in Chicago for years without political change. Citing data collected by the Chicago Police Department, the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute has reported that over 2800 shootings occurred in 2022 in the South Loop and South Side regions of Chicago primarily inhabited by Black, Latino, and low-income Caucasian residents. In particular, the Humboldt and Garfield Park neighborhoods of similar socioeconomic demographics experienced nearly 25 mass shootings in 2022 with approximately 7 individuals per 1000 residents becoming victims of gun violence. Although one might have expected PICA to have reversed these trends of violence, Chicago’s minority neighborhoods have continued to suffer shootings involving banned weapons and federally restricted machine gun conversion devices. During the 2023 Fourth of July weekend alone, South Side neighborhoods faced the chilling reality of 68 shootings, leaving 10 victims dead and 56 wounded. Even outside of holidays, when gun violence often surges, these neighborhoods have been subject to random weekends rife with gang-related shootings. An example of this phenomenon occurred on the weekend of October 14^th, 2023, when 21 residents were shot, resulting in 4 deaths. With PICA arriving only after years of gun violence tearing apart the minority communities of Chicago and having no meaningful impact on ameliorating this issue thus far, the benefits of this legislation are yet to be seen by the neighborhoods unfortunately caught in the line of fire.

Chicago’s minority neighborhoods have continued to suffer shootings perpetrated by assailants using banned weapons alongside federally restricted machine gun conversion devices.

As of early February 2024, PICA is still set to be enforced by the ISP while its fate remains undecided by the 7^th Circuit. Regardless of the outcome of the 7^th Circuit’s en banc ruling, it is widely anticipated that the plaintiffs or the state will appeal to the Supreme Court. Due to the Second Amendment challenges and the questionable legal conduct of state actors, the conservative-majority Supreme Court will likely be open to taking on the case after it has progressed through the courts. Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, the Supreme Court’s potential scrutinization of “assault weapon” bans may ultimately play a critical role in mobilizing voters and deciding the greater constitutionality of these controversial forms of gun control. 

David Tabarez-Cisneros ‘25 studies in the College of Arts & SciencesHe can be reached at d.tabarez-cisneros@wustl.edu