Illinois appeals judge's restraining order on gun ban

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Monday asked a state appellate court to dismiss a temporary restraining order on Illinois' new ban on

semiautomatic weapons. The two-week-old law was adopted in response to a mass shooting at the July 4th parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. Raoul filed the

request with the 5th District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon. It contends the restraining order issued last Friday by Effingham County Circuit Judge Joshua Morrison was improper

because of contrary state Supreme Court rulings and the lawsuit's inability to prove the gun ban's approval violates the Constitution's equal protection clause. Gov. J.B.

Pritzker signed the prohibition into law on Jan. 10. It outlaws the manufacture or possession of dozens of specific types of semiautomatic long guns and pistols and high-capacity

ammunition cartridges. Four gun merchants, led by Accuracy Firearms in Effingham, 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis, and 850 individuals filed the lawsuit.

It claims that the law was improperly enacted and lacking proper public input. It also asserts a violation of the nation's guarantee of equal protection of the law by

exempting from enforcement categories of people based on occupation or training — retired police officers, for example. Raoul's appeal disputes those notions and says there

is no evidence exemptions are granted unfairly. The law requires those who owned such rapid-fire weapons prior to Jan. 10 to register them with the Illinois State Police

before Jan. 1, 2024. Gun dealers may sell existing stock to out-of-state customers or return it to manufacturers.