Robert Bevis has had a rough six months. He owns of Law Weapons in Naperville, a business that was doing great until the naggy moms pressured the Naperville City Council to virtue signal at Robert’s expense.
They passed an ordinance that banned the sale of the most popular self-defense firearms including America’s favorite rifle. Of course, they banned the sale of the magazines that fed these guns as well.
That crippled his business, so he sued.
Then Illinois passed the “Protect Illinois Communities Act” gun ban. So Robert added a challenge to that as well. He’s had one setback after another, in part thanks to drawing a really bad federal court judge. Yes, that judge has been overturned on every major 2A case she’s ever heard, but that doesn’t help Bevis. His judge declined to give him a preliminary injunction, saying he wouldn’t likely win his case. This despite Bruen.
He appealed to the Seventh Circuit and they declined to touch the case.
At that point, he called me one day and asked my thoughts. I offered him my assessment and suggested an Emergency Appeal to the US Supreme Court. “Yeah, they’ll almost certainly reject it out of hand but what do you have to lose?”
I hadn’t talked with him for a few days, but then I saw a splash that Robert Bevis had sought a preliminary injunction against that city’s ban on the sale of popular self-defense firearms and the magazines that feed them.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett handles emergency appeals from the Seventh Circuit and she has ordered “asked” the city to respond to Bevis’ petition by May 8th. “Asked” as in you better reply or else.
Again, the vast majority of these emergency petitions are turned away without comment by the justices. The fact that Justice Barrett asking the city of Naperville to respond is seen as a very positive sign to many, but especially Mr. Bevis.
Mr. Bevis told me he’s spent over $150,000 on legal bills fighting the city’s ordinance after it passed last fall. The National Association for Gun Rights has stepped in and is now paying for the legal team and has joined the case as a plaintiff.
Here’s more from Stephen Gutowski at The Reload . . .
The move may indicate the Court is getting closer to taking up a case against so-called assault weapons bans. After it handed down a new test for gun cases in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, the Court ordered the Fourth Circuit to rehear a case upholding Maryland’s ban. Federal judges have been split on whether the bans violate the Second Amendment under the new test, opening the door for potential Supreme Court intervention and clarification.
Illinois enacted a statewide ban earlier this year, but it has since been blocked in state and federal court. It has also faced substantial backlash from Illinois sheriffs, a majority of which say they won’t enforce the ban because they consider it unconstitutional.
NAGR was denied a preliminary injunction against the Naperville ordinance in February, and the Seventh Circuit rejected the gun-rights group’s request to block enforcement of the law while its appeal is being processed. Now, the group is making the same request to the Supreme Court.
If the Court does issue an injunction against the ordinance, it will signal similar bans adopted by ten states are unconstitutional. That could upend the debate over gun control in America, which has largely centered around prohibitions on the AR-15 and similar guns. But, while Barrett’s request for a brief increases the odds the case will see action, most cases where briefs are requested do not get a full hearing…
“We are aware of the request and anticipated that there would be legal challenges, but at this point we do not have any comment,” Linda L. LaCloche, Naperville communications director, told The Reload.
Bevis has reportedly offered the city a settlement offer to help them avoid a huge judgement if he wins his case. Given the municipal election turned out some of the more radical, anti-gun members of the city council and replaced them with more gun-friendly council members, his offer may have legs. Oh, and there’s a new mayor in city hall as well.
Bevis’ position may grow much stronger if Justice ACB issues an emergency injunction in the case. Watch this space.
I find this very encouraging. I suspect that SCOTUS is growing tired of activist judges and their pets like Moms Demand Action that can’t seem to follow the legal guidance of the court in 2A cases. Bruen is the standard now, and lower courts will need to be held to that standard until they get the message.
I think in the end Mr. Bevis will win and be able to resume normal sales. I hope he get’s a nice big check from Naperville when this is over. The residents can then see how their dollars are wasted with virtue signaling garbage.
Tick, tock, tick, tock….
What is that light blinking in the lower corner? The gun control dissipation light, seems to have kicked up a few winks.