Constitutional Law

Mtn to dismiss denied in Illinois FOID card case

The district court has denied the State's motion to dismiss in Mishaga v. Monken, which challenges Illinois' requirement of an FOID card to possess a firearm, while at the same time making nonresidents ineligible to obtain such a card.

What I find interesting is that the judge suggests the parties should at some point argue whether there is a difference between possession in one's own home (Heller and McDonald) and possession while staying at someone else's home. I find that interesting because only a few years ago a right to arms challenge would have been laughed off, while today judges are treating it as something quite interesting -- "Can I make new law here? Is there some issue that I can be the first to explore?" When I went to law school in the 70s the rest of the Bill of Rights had some hot issues -- defamation, search and seizure, pornography, Miranda's application, 14th Amendment and the question of "State action." Today, they're all settled by thirty years of precedent. Not true of the right to arms!

Full post as published by Of Arms and the Law on November 23, 2010 (boomark / email).