Does Lax Enforcement of Illinois Gun Legislation Violate Victims’ Civil Rights?

[mauserme]

https://www.fltimes.com/news/nation/editorial-does-lax-enforcement-of-illinois-gun-legislation-violate-victims-civil-rights/article_76ee6b41-a815-556f-9966-9a4b8655dc02.html

 

Editorial: Does lax enforcement of Illinois gun legislation violate victims’ civil rights?

• Chicago Tribune Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune

 

As Illinois Democrats continue to seek a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines after the Highland Park massacre on July 4, critics of gun safety laws voice a familiar rebuttal:

 

Why pass new gun laws, opponents argue, when so many existing laws aren’t being enforced?

 

That’s a good question, but it dodges another, yet more obvious question: Why aren’t the existing laws being enforced?

 

That’s the question properly raised in a lawsuit filed by parents, including Shanice Mathews, a West Side mother of four. She’s the named plaintiff in Mathews v. State of Illinois, a suit filed by her and other parents on behalf of their children and others in a proposed class of Black children who the parents say have been traumatized by living in neighborhoods plagued by high gun violence.

 

The defendants are the state of Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois State Police.

 

The lawsuit seeks no monetary damages. Instead, it seeks to have the predominantly Black populations in 10 high-crime neighborhoods recognized as a legal class and requires the defendants to properly enforce the state’s Firearm Dealer Licensing Act, the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act and the Illinois Gun Trafficking Information Act.

...

 

Mathew’s suit essentially calls for the governor and police to do their duty and fill the gaps in gun law enforcement that have caused some communities to pay an especially high price.

 

Suing the state for providing uneven gun law enforcement may sound like an outlandish idea. But considering the state’s sad record of enforcing gun owner regulations, the attention is hardly undeserved.

...

Illinois is known to have some of the toughest gun laws and regulations that the Constitution allows. But if FOID files are not kept up to date and related regulations are not rigorously enforced, the state’s citizens are not adequately protected.

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2022 at 04:28 PM by mauserme
Corrected Title

[solareclipse2]

On 9/7/2022 at 6:20 AM, mauserme said:

requires the defendants to properly enforce the state’s Firearm Dealer Licensing Act, the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act and the Illinois Gun Trafficking Information Act.

 

Just those three? or are there more? To be honest this sounds like a good thing, gun owners steadily complain that we don't need new laws and that we need the existing laws enforced so I hope this gains momentum though I don't know how you measure enforcement of a law or how you measure the success of it unless it's simply a measure of arrets, citations, and forfeitures or whatever penalties are allowed under the laws.

[SiliconSorcerer]

There's two problems with this.  

First police are not required to enforce the law (only a code of ethics)

For example the law doesn't say you have to be going 10 over the speed limit to get a ticket. 

 

Second police are not required to protect people (per SCOTUS) 

 

In the 1981 case Warren v. District of Columbia, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that police have a general "public duty," but that "no specific legal duty exists" unless there is a special relationship between an officer and an individual, such as a person in custody.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that police have no specific obligation to protect. In its 1989 decision in DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services, the justices ruled that a social services department had no duty to protect a young boy from his abusive father. In 2005'sCastle Rock v. Gonzales, a woman sued the police for failing to protect her from her husband after he violated a restraining order and abducted and killed their three children. Justices said the police had no such duty.

Most recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit upheld a lower court ruling that police could not be held liable for failing to protect students in the 2018 shooting that claimed 17 lives at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

 

They are trying this again for the recent school shooting but I wouldn't hold my breath. 

 

 

[modeler1945]

Doesn't matter if the police enforce it or not when Kim Foxx wont bother to prosecute. 

[BobPistol]

Mayor tells cops not to arrest thugs.

If the cops DO manage to arrest thugs, SA drops charges.

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges,  the bail is zero so no jail time.     

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges, judges drop charges.

If the judges manage to enforce the charges, they give minimal sentencing.

If the thugs are thrown in prison, they tend to get out quickly to lax parole boards.

 

But we're told the crime problem is caused by guns. 

 

This is what the class action lawsuit should be about - state's inaction against crime ON PURPOSE. 

Edited September 7, 2022 at 02:46 PM by BobPistol

[Dumak_from_arfcom]

On 9/7/2022 at 9:45 AM, BobPistol said:

Mayor tells cops not to arrest thugs.

If the cops DO manage to arrest thugs, SA drops charges.

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges,  the bail is zero so no jail time.     

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges, judges drop charges.

If the judges manage to enforce the charges, they give minimal sentencing.

If the thugs are thrown in prison, they tend to get out quickly to lax parole boards.

 

But we're told the crime problem is caused by guns. 

 

This is what the class action lawsuit should be about - state's inaction against crime ON PURPOSE. 

Nailed it.  

[SiliconSorcerer]

On 9/7/2022 at 9:45 AM, BobPistol said:

Mayor tells cops not to arrest thugs.

If the cops DO manage to arrest thugs, SA drops charges.

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges,  the bail is zero so no jail time.     

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges, judges drop charges.

If the judges manage to enforce the charges, they give minimal sentencing.

If the thugs are thrown in prison, they tend to get out quickly to lax parole boards.

 

But we're told the crime problem is caused by guns. 

 

This is what the class action lawsuit should be about - state's inaction against crime ON PURPOSE. 

Yes my point was, there's no lawsuit there.  

[Euler]

This case is Judicial Second Amendment Case Discussion > Powell v IL - Racial impact of gun violence, filed Oct 3, 2018.

 

The case has been recaptioned.

  

On 6/13/2022 at 2:03 PM, Euler said:

As of June 10:

• ...
• Since Powell has withdrawn as a plaintiff, the case has been recaptioned "Mathews v IL."

 

[357]

On 9/7/2022 at 9:45 AM, BobPistol said:

Mayor tells cops not to arrest thugs.

If the cops DO manage to arrest thugs, SA drops charges.

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges,  the bail is zero so no jail time.     

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges, judges drop charges.

If the judges manage to enforce the charges, they give minimal sentencing.

If the thugs are thrown in prison, they tend to get out quickly to lax parole boards.

 

But we're told the crime problem is caused by guns. 

 

This is what the class action lawsuit should be about - state's inaction against crime ON PURPOSE. 

Yeah they blame the guns, guns are committing the violence.

[DaveTN]

Anyone have a link to this lawsuit? When I search Mathews v. State of Illinois or Matthews v. State of Illinois, I’m not getting any results that look like this lawsuit? The Powell lawsuit appears to have been  dismissed, at least partially, three years ago?

[MrTriple]

The concept of victim's rights will probably be the avenue through which cashless bail gets struck down by the courts.

[Euler]

On 9/11/2022 at 12:15 PM, DaveTN said:

Anyone have a link to this lawsuit? When I search Mathews v. State of Illinois or Matthews v. State of Illinois, I’m not getting any results that look like this lawsuit? The Powell lawsuit appears to have been  dismissed, at least partially, three years ago?

 

On 9/7/2022 at 3:21 PM, Euler said:

This case is Judicial Second Amendment Case Discussion > Powell v IL - Racial impact of gun violence, filed Oct 3, 2018.

 

The case has been recaptioned.

 

There's a link to the docket in the original thread.

[DaveTN]

I’m still not sure I’m seeing anything that is current, but I’m reading the PDF of DEMETRIA POWELL, TYWANNA PATRICK v. THE STATE OF ILLINOIS; THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF STATE POLICE; BRUCE RAUNER, Governor of the State of Illinois; and LEO P. SCHMITZ, Director of the Illinois Department of State Police.

 

September 30, 2019 is the last action I see on it “For the reasons stated, defendants’ motion to dismiss plaintiffs’ complaint is granted in part and denied in part. The claims of plaintiffs Reese and Patrick are dismissed for lack of standing.”

 

Regardless….. That document appears to make claims black parts of the city have more violence and murders than white parts. Isn’t that in part because Mayor Lightfoot has refused to send more Police Officers into where the violence and crime is occurring? I guess an argument could be made that the Governor and the Illinois State Police are responsible for protecting the entire state, but in this case isn’t this the responsibility of Mayor Lightfoot and The Chicago Police Department? I’m confused as to why they aren’t named.

[Euler]

On 9/11/2022 at 7:01 PM, DaveTN said:

...

September 30, 2019 is the last action I see on it ...

 

I don't know what docket you're looking at, but the one linked in the Judicial forum has a last action on August 16, 2022 for docket entry 162.

[ScopeEye]

On 9/7/2022 at 9:45 AM, BobPistol said:

Mayor tells cops not to arrest thugs.

If the cops DO manage to arrest thugs, SA drops charges.

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges,  the bail is zero so no jail time.     

If the SA manages to actually enforce charges, judges drop charges.

If the judges manage to enforce the charges, they give minimal sentencing.

If the thugs are thrown in prison, they tend to get out quickly to lax parole boards.

 

But we're told the crime problem is caused by guns. 

 

This is what the class action lawsuit should be about - state's inaction against crime ON PURPOSE. 

Clown World...

[alco0203]

They should add Kim Foxx and Lightfoot as defendants and they might have a better (or at least more accurate) argument.

[mauserme]

I think it's interesting that even the Chicago Tribune is beginning to wonder about the need for more laws.

[springfield shooter]

On 9/12/2022 at 3:46 PM, mauserme said:

I think it's interesting that even the Chicago Tribune is beginning to wonder about the need for more laws.

 

Any idea why?

Edited September 13, 2022 at 12:27 AM by springfield shooter
rephrase

[mauserme]

On 9/12/2022 at 7:25 PM, springfield shooter said:

 

Any idea why?

 

I don't know.

 

Hoping to find some real solutions?

 

 

 

 

[mab22]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:20 PM, mauserme said:

 

I don't know.

 

Hoping to find some real solutions?

 

 

 

 

Do we have any articles suggesting more laws?
Although we’re talking about a Chicago news outlet so….. I’ll just stop for the moment🙃

[SiliconSorcerer]

On 9/12/2022 at 8:20 PM, mauserme said:

 

I don't know.

 

Hoping to find some real solutions?

 

 

 

 

 

Hope of keeping or getting any subscribers?

I dropped and got the $1 for 6 month's response, I declined it.   

If there's something I want to read I can't get at I use show me a 10ft paywall, I’ll show you a 12ft ladder.

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