South Central Reporter

Montgomery County State’s Attorney Andrew Affrunti will not enforce the state’s recently enacted assault weapons ban. 

The majority of the state's sheriffs have announced they will not implement the ban due to what they see as constitutional violations. 

“On January 10, 2023, Governor Pritzker signed into law House Bill 5471 which criminalizes the possession of firearms defined in the Bill as 'assault weapons' and the possession of magazines that are above a certain capacity. This Bill comes less than a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decided New York State Pistol and Rifle Association v. Buren, and then subsequently entered orders vacating the decisions of California and Maryland Courts that had approved magazine capacity limits and ‘assault weapon’ bans,” Affrunti said in a statement. “As the Montgomery County State's Attorney, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States. In accordance with my Oath and belief that this law violates the 2nd Amendment of the United States Constitution, I will be exercising my prosecutorial discretion to not file charges against those in violation of this law.”

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison issued a temporary restraining order last week. That means the law will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore until it can be heard in court. The plaintiffs included 862 Illinois citizens from more than 80 counties and four licensed firearms dealers.

“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 told The Center Square. 

The Protect Illinois Communities Act HB 5471 redefined all semi-automatic weapons as so-called “assault weapons.” 

The ban 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, Chicago City Wire reported.

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 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."