Lawsuit Aims To Prevent Naperville Cops Enforcing Assault Weapon Ban

NAPERVILLE, IL — The National Association of Gun Rights (NAGR) recently amended its lawsuit against the City of Naperville to seek a temporary restraining order that would block local police from enforcing a city- and statewide bans on assault weapons.

In a news release, NAGR President Dudley Brown called the decision to amend the lawsuit a "no-brainer."

Brown said, "Semi-auto and magazine bans are blatantly unconstitutional. This bogus law violates the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens in Illinois and directly flies in the face of the Bruen decision issued by the Supreme Court seven months ago. We were already suing Naperville and Highland Park over their gun bans, so amending our complaint to put the state law at issue in our case against Naperville was a no-brainer."

The lawsuit, initially filed in November, first sought to overturn Naperville's ordinance prohibiting the sale of semiautomatic rifles.

The new statewide law, HB 5471, bans the sale and unregistered possession of specific firearms it classifies as "assault weapons." NAGR hopes to overturn this law as well.

NAGR's amended lawsuit, filed Jan. 24, adds Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres as a defendant and states, "Arres is or will perform his duty to enforce the Ordinance and State Law. Thus, Arres is or will deprive plaintiffs’ of their constitutional rights by enforcing these unconstitutional laws against them."

Plaintiffs in the suit include gun shop owner Robert Bevis, who owns Law Weapons and Supply on Aurora Road in Naperville. Bevis and NAGR filed a lawsuit against Naperville in September asserting that the city's ordinance banning assault weapon sales was unconstitutional.

The NAGR lawsuit reads, "Plaintiffs and/or their members and/or customers desire to exercise Second Amendment right to acquire, possess, carry, sell, purchase and transfer State Banned Firearms and Banned Magazines for lawful purposes, including, but not limited to, the defense of their homes. The State Law prohibits or soon will prohibit Plaintiffs from exercising their Second Amendment rights in this fashion."

It continues, "The Ordinance and the State Law burden Plaintiff’s Second Amendment rights by

limiting or prohibiting their right to acquire, possess, carry, sell, purchase and transfer City
Banned Firearms, State Banned Firearms and Banned Magazines. These laws are not consistent
with the nation’s history and tradition of firearm regulation."

Since HB5471, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, was signed into law, legislators and public officials have spoken out in support or against the restriction, including DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick. Mendrick released a statement vowing not to enforce some parts of the law. Reps. Bill Foster (D, IL-11), Sean Casten (D, IL-6) and others reached out to ask Mendrick to rescind his statement.

On Tuesday, DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy said she would seek to censure Mendrick at the board's upcoming meeting in February.