Caulkins v. Pritzker

• Docket Number: Docket No. 129453
• Decision Date: 11 August 2023
• Citation: 228 N.E.3d 181
• Parties: Dan CAULKINS et al., Appellees, v. Jay Robert PRITZKER, in His Official Capacity as Governor of the State of Illinois, et al., Appellants.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

228 N.E.3d 181

2023 IL 129453

Dan CAULKINS et al., Appellees,

v.Jay Robert PRITZKER, in His Official Capacity as Governor of the State of Illinois, et al., Appellants.

(Docket No. 129453)

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed August 11, 2023

Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (Jane Elinor Notz, Solicitor General, and Leigh J. Jahnig, Assistant Attorney General, of Chicago, of counsel), Adam R. Vaught, Special Assistant Attorney General, of Kilbride & Vaught, LLC, of LaGrange, and Luke A. Casson, Special Assistant Attorney General, of Andreou & Casson, Ltd., and Devon C. Bruce, Special Assistant Attorney General, of Power Rogers, LLP, both of Chicago, for appellants.

Jerrold H. Stocks and Brian D. Eck, of Featherstun, Gaumer, Stocks, Flynn & Eck, LLP, of Decatur, for appellees.

Thomas A. Haine, State’s Attorney, of Edwardsville, for amici curiaeMichael Hill, State’s Attorney of Brown County et al.

OPINION

JUSTICE ROCHFORDdelivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 The Protect Illinois Communities Act (Act) restricts firearms and related items that the Act defines as "an assault weapon, assault weapon attachment, 50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge"(collectively, assault weapons)(720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(b)(West 2022)) and "large capacity ammunition feeding device[s]," commonly known as large capacity magazines (LCMs)(id.§ 24-1.10(b)).Certain restrictions do not apply to (1) law enforcement agencies and individuals who complete firearms training as part of their employment in law enforcement, corrections, the military, and private security (trained professionals)(id.§§ 244.9(e), 24-1.10(e)) and (2) individuals who possessed assault weapons or LCMs before the restrictions became effective (grandfathered individuals)(id.§§ 244.9(d), 244.10(d)).

¶ 2The circuit court of Macon County entered declaratory judgment for plaintiffs on two claims that the restrictions are facially unconstitutional because the ex- emptions deny the "law-abiding public" equal protection (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 2) and constitute special legislation(id.art. IV, § 13) under the Illinois Constitution.Defendants appeal directly to this court.Ill. S. Ct. R. 302(a)(1)(eff. Oct. 4, 2011).

¶ 3Plaintiffs defend the judgment on equal protection and special legislation grounds and allege for the first time that, regardless of the exemptions, the restrictions violate the second amendment to the United States Constitution.U.S. Const., amend. II.They further argue that Public Act 102-1116 (eff. Jan. 10, 2023), which added sections 24-1.9and24-1.10 to the Criminal Code of 2012(720 ILCS 5/1-1 et seq.(West 2022)), violates the three-readings requirement of the Illinois Constitution and that the circuit court erred in ruling to the contrary.Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, § 8(d).

¶ 4 First, we hold that the exemptions neither deny equal protection nor constitute special legislation because plaintiffs have not sufficiently alleged that they are similarly situated to and treated differently from the exempt classes.Second, plaintiffs expressly waived in the circuit court any independent claim that the restrictions impermissibly infringe the second amendment.Third, plaintiffs’ failure to cross-appeal is a jurisdictional bar to renewing their three-readings claim.Accordingly, we reverse the circuit court and enter judgment for defendants on the equal protection and special legislation claims.We express no opinion on the potential viability of plaintiffs’ waived claim concerning the second amendment.

¶ 5 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 6 A. The Act

¶ 7The Act amended the Criminal Code of 2012 to restrict access to assault weapons and LCMs. Pub. Act 102-1116, § 25(eff. Jan. 10, 2023)(adding 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9, 24-1.10).The Act, effective January 10, 2023, prohibits the purchase and sale, manufacture, delivery, and import of firearms defined by the statute as "assault weapons," except sales to persons in other States or to those authorized to acquire them under the Act’s enumerated exemptions for certain professionals.720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(b)(West 2022).The Act also prohibits possession of assault weapons beginning on January 1, 2024.

¶ 8 However, the Act contains two exemptions relevant here.A "grandfather" provision permits persons who lawfully possessed assault weapons before January 10, 2023, to continue to possess them as long as they provide an endorsement affidavit to the Illinois State Police by January 1, 2024.Id.§ 24-1.9(c), (d).Those who inherit a lawfully owned assault weapon may retain it upon providing an endorsement affidavit.Id.§ 24-1.9(d)(2)(ii).An endorsement affidavit, which is executed electronically as a form through a Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card account (430 ILCS 65/4.1(West 2022)), identifies the weapon and affirms that the individual owned it before January 10, 2023.720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(d)(West 2022).

¶ 9The Act also restricts the manufacture, delivery, sale, and purchase of LCMs, except the restriction on possession took effect on April 10, 2023, and the Act does not require endorsement affidavits for LCMs.Id.§ 24-1.10(b)-(d).

¶ 10 In addition to the "grandfather" provision, the Act exempts seven enumerated classes from the restrictions on possession and purchase.Four of the exemptions apply to law enforcement agencies, peace officers, corrections officials, and active and retired law enforcement officers qualified under the federal LawEnforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004(18 U.S.C. §§ 926B,926C (2018)), as recognized under Illinois law.Those included in this law-enforcement exemption are required by law to receive firearms training and qualifications.720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(e)(1)-(4), 24-1.10(e)(1)-(4)(West 2020).

¶ 11 Three other exemptions apply to members of the armed services, the reserve forces, and the Illinois National Guard; licensed private security guards; and guards at nuclear facilities, all of whom also receive firearms training by virtue of their employment.The Act permits them to possess assault weapons and LCMs, but only to the extent required by their official duties.Id.§§ 24-1.9(e)(5)-(7), 24-1.10(e)(5)-(7).

¶ 12 B. The Complaint

¶ 13Plaintiffs are a business, two separately named individuals, and a voluntary unincorporated association, consisting of hundreds of individuals and businesses.All plaintiffs allege they"possess or otherwise desire to deliver, sell, import, or purchase" assault weapons as defined by section 24-1.9(a)"and/or manufacture, deliver, sell, or purchase" LCMs as defined by section 24-1.10(a).

¶ 14Plaintiff Decatur Jewelry is a licensed pawn broker engaged in intrastate and interstate commerce involving "the sale, possession, and transfer of firearms."Decatur Jewelry, which as a pawn broker holds certain assault weapons as security, alleges sections 24-1.9and24-1.10 criminalize the return of those weapons to their rightful owners.

¶ 15Dan Caulkins and Perry Lewin are residents and citizens of Illinois who also "possess or otherwise desire to deliver, sell, import, or purchase" assault weapons "and/or manufacture, deliver, sell or purchase" LCMs.

¶ 16 Law-Abiding Gun Owners of Macon County is an association of "similarly interested members associated for the purpose of protecting the Second Amendment and Property rights of law-abiding gun owners."Members must possess a valid FOID card.

¶ 17 The complaint alleged six counts seeking declaratory and injunctive relief, and the parties filed opposing motions for summary judgment.Plaintiffs moved for summary judgment only on counts IV and V, which alleged violations of the Illinois Constitution’s equal protection and special legislation clauses.

¶ 18 Count IV, the equal protection claim, alleged the trained professionals are "seemingly a protected class based upon their occupations" and "are wholly exempt based on their employment status."The claim alleged that "[c]reating an exempt status for those persons is not only irrational and completely lacking anything approaching common sense, there are no set of facts wherein it can survive a constitutional attack based upon equal protection regardless of the standard of review."Count IV alleged, "At issue is the infringement of a right to bear arms as guaranteed by the Illinois Constitution" such that the restrictions "are indisputably in violation of the Plaintiffs[sic] equal rights to be treated the same as their fellow citizens who are similarly situated in regard to their individual and fundamental constitutional rights to bear arms for self-defense."Count IV sought a judgment declaring sections 24-1.9(a)and24-1.10(a) unconstitutional under the equal protection clause.

¶ 19 Count V, the special legislation claim, alleged "the 2nd Amendment protects the additional right to commercial and non-commercial sale of arms," while sections 24-1.9and24-1.10"create an economic franchise for those excepted from its criminal provisions to engage commerce, commercial and non-commercial, in gun sales on a broader basis not available to all who own ‘assault weapons’ or desire to purchase, gift, receive or sell ‘assault weapons.’"Count V sought a judgment declaring sections 24-1.9and24-1.10 unconstitutional for creating special classifications according to the excepted class, which enjoys "an economic franchise" in violation of the special legislation clause.

¶ 20 To the extent the complaint made isolated references to the right to keep and bear arms under either the second amendment or article I, section 22, of the Illinois Constitution, it was to claim that plaintiffs, as members of the law-abiding public with valid FOID cards, are similarly situated to the exempt classes for equal protection and special legislation purposes.Neither count IV nor count V alleged the restrictions violate the second amendment.

¶ 21 C. The Judgment

¶ 22The circuit court determined that Accuracy Firearms, LLC v. Pritzker,2023 IL App (5th) 230035, ¶ 65, 469...