http://illinoiscourt...ict/3170051.pdf
A win for the Second Amendment in IL Appellate Court. Plaintiff is an IllinoisCarry member. Thank you Kosta!
Key points:
By virtue of completing his sentence, petitioner had his civil rights restored within the meaning of the Gun Control Act. Id. Therefore, petitioner utilized an exception to remove himself from disqualification under federal law. Under a proper reading of the Gun Control Act, we hold petitioner should be allowed to obtain a FOID card because we find he has met all of the statutory requirements. See 430 ILCS 65/10© (West 2014).
This result also avoids an absurd application of the law. See Coram, 2013 IL 113867, ¶ 57 (“In the construction of our statutes, this court presumes that the legislature did not intend to create absurd, inconvenient, or unjust results.”). To find petitioner never had his civil rights removed so as to prevent them from being restored would disproportionately punish a less serious offender. The State’s argument is that if petitioner’s crimes were of a sufficient magnitude, to require, say, a sentence of five years’ imprisonment, there would be no question whether his civil rights were restored. The proposition fails on its face because a sentence of probation is no less of a sentence or legal obstacle than incarceration, at least with respect to holding office or sitting on a jury. ¶ 18Assuming no intervening disqualifying events and in light of the trial court’s other findings, we remand with directions for the trial court to direct the Department of the Illinois State Police to issue petitioner a FOID card.
I do expect the IL Attorney General to appeal this case to the IL Supreme Court though, so the battle may not be over.
