South Central Reporter

Illinois Rep. Brad Halbrook (R-Shelbyville) encouraged his constituents via Facebook to share their thoughts on the possibility of the state striking down the state's gun and magazine ban in a Post on April 11.

"About a third of Illinois’ state’s attorneys want to see the Illinois Supreme Court strike down the state’s gun and magazine ban," he wrote, asking readers to "let me know what your thoughts are."

Halbrook also shared a link to story by the Center Square, which claims that "about a third of Illinois’ state’s attorneys want to see the Illinois Supreme Court strike down the state’s gun and magazine ban." The story cites a challenge by Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) who filed a lawsuit to negate gun and magazine ban on the grounds that it violates equal protections since the law doesn’t apply to police officers or others in the law enforcement and security industries.

In a friend of the court brief filed by a nonpartisan group of 33 representatives, the story stated, led by Madison County State’s Attorney Thomas Haine.

“It’s not a political issue from our perspective,” Haine told The Center Square. “We are attorneys. We are prosecutors. We took an oath to be objective about the law. From an objective legal standpoint there is just no basis to attempt to ban the kinds of firearms that are used by literally millions of Americans in their day to day lives for law abiding purposes.”

In late January, Caulkins said he intended to file a suit looking to keep the state ban from going into effect. “Many of my constituents who I saw and spoke with over the weekend asked me how they could get the same privilege,” Caulkins said. “I know that there’s a lot of FOID cardholders who would like to have those same protections. I would suspect that we’ll see lawsuits pop up all over Illinois in the near future,”

Halbrook called the assault weapon and magazine ban "a direct attack on the Constitutional rights afforded to citizens of the United States," according to a Chambana Sun report.

“A sweeping new gun control effort by Democrats has been introduced in the Illinois General Assembly and may be voted on in a Lame Duck Session in early January,” Halbrook said in a newsletter he posted to Facebook. “Second Amendment Rights of legal gun owners would be severely limited under HB 5855. Within the bill, Democrats have created a new definition of 'assault weapon' to include almost every kind of semi-automatic weapon currently available to law-abiding citizens. This legislation represents a direct attack on the Constitutional rights afforded to citizens of the United States to protect themselves, their families, and their property.”