Court Opinion

ID: 9779639
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 00:30:42.918792+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:37.284915
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE NEVILLE, dissenting: The majority ignores the precedential effect of the United States Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and ignores the judicial dictum rule which obligates this court to apply the Heller reasoning to the facts in this case. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent because I think this court is required to follow Heller and should hold that the AUUW statute violates the second amendment to the United States Constitution. Standard of Review I agree with part of the majority’s analysis. I agree that only the 2008 version of the AUUW statute applies in this case. I also agree that neither strict scrutiny nor a rational basis test should govern the constitutionality of restrictions on the right to bear arms (see Heller, 554 U.S. at 628 n.27), and therefore this court should apply some form of intermediate scrutiny to determine whether the AUUW statute violates the second amendment. See United States v. Miller, 604 F. Supp. 2d 1162 (W.D. Tenn. 2009); United States v. Pettengill, 682 F. Supp. 2d 49, 55 (D. Me. 2010). The majority’s adoption of an intermediate scrutiny standard of review directly conflicts with the rational basis standard of review applied in People v. Dawson, 403 Ill. App. 3d 499, 510 (2010), and People v. Williams, 405 Ill. App. 3d 958 (2010). It should be noted that those courts held that the AUUW statute did not violate the second amendment because the legislature had a rational basis for adopting the AUUW statute. See Dawson, 403 Ill. App. 3d at 510; Williams, 405 Ill. App. 3d at 962-63. In my opinion, under the appropriate intermediate scrutiny standard of review, “[t]he State must assert a substantial interest to be achieved by restrictions” on the constitutional rights at issue, and “the regulatory technique must be in proportion to that interest.” Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Comm’n, 447 U.S. 557, 564 (1980). Supreme Court decisions “require *** a fit that is not necessarily perfect, but reasonable; that represents not necessarily the single best disposition but one whose scope is ‘in proportion to the interest served.’ ” Board of Trustees of the State University of New York v. Fox, 492 U.S. 469, 480 (1989) (quoting In re R.M.J., 455 U.S. 191, 203 (1982)). Accordingly, I would apply the aforementioned test to statutes that restrict the right to bear arms. Second Amendment The Heller Court provides considerable guidance on the nature of the right the second amendment protects and on the kinds of restrictions the Court considers permissible. The majority here gives short shrift to the Heller Court’s analysis, treating all but its final holding, concerning a statute that banned handgun possession in the home, as dicta. But, as our supreme court explained in Cates v. Cates, 156 Ill. 2d 76, 80 (1993), judicial dicta should usually carry dispositive weight in an inferior court. See also People v. Williams, 204 Ill. 2d 191, 206 (2003). The Heller Court explained that the second amendment protects the right to “bear arms” (U.S. Const., amend. II), which it defined as the right to “ ‘ “wear, bear, or carry [arms] ... upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, for the purpose ... of being armed and ready for offensive or defensive action in a case of conflict with another person.” ’ ” Heller, 554 U.S. at 584 (quoting Muscarello v. United States, 524 U.S. 125, 143 (1998) (Ginsburg, J., dissenting, joined by Rehnquist, C.J., Scalia and Souter, JJ.), quoting Black’s Law Dictionary 214 (6th ed. 1998)). Thus, the second amendment, at its core, protects the right of every citizen to have firearms available to protect himself or herself in case a conflict with another person arises. Heller, 554 U.S. at 584. The second amendment itself does not restrict the right to keep and bear arms to the home, and nothing in the Heller Court’s reasoning restricts this right to the home. U.S. Const., amend. II; Heller, 554 U.S. at 584. As some commentators have noted, conflicts frequently arise outside the home, and citizens often need to defend themselves when such conflicts arise: “Often, people need to defend themselves against robbers, rapists, and killers outside and not just in the home. Two-thirds of all rapes and sexual assaults, for instance, happen outside the victim’s home, and half happen outside anyone’s home. The percentages are even greater for robberies and assaults.” Eugene Volokh, Implementing the Right to Keep and Bear Arms for Self-Defense: An Analytical Framework and a Research Agenda, 56 UCLA L. Rev. 1443, 1518 (2009). AUUW Statute The AUUW statute restricts the right to use arms for self-defense by banning every citizen from carrying a loaded, uncased and accessible firearm when the citizen is anywhere other than on his land, in his abode, in his legal dwelling, or at his fixed place of business. 720 ILCS 5/24—1.6 (West 2008). In my view, this court should determine the constitutionality of this restriction by looking to the substantial state interests the statute advances and by assessing the reach of the restriction to determine whether the restriction fits proportionally with the interest served. See Central Hudson, 447 U.S. at 564. The majority attempts to explain the purpose of the AUUW statute, but I find the majority’s explanation here less persuasive than the explanation given in People v. Marin, 342 Ill. App. 3d 716 (2003). The Marin court reviewed the legislative history of the AUUW statute and found: “The overall purpose of the aggravated UUW statute is to protect the public from gun violence. [Citation.] *** [T]he legislature intended to prevent anyone from carrying a loaded or unlicensed weapon in order to protect the general public and police enforcement officers. *** *** [T]he legislature’s purpose in enacting the statute was to prevent any person from carrying a loaded weapon on his person or in his vehicle due to ‘the inherent dangers to police officers and the general public.’ [People v.] Grant, 339 Ill. App. 3d [792,] 806 [(2003)] * * * *** [The legislature aimed] to prevent situations where no criminal intent existed, but criminal conduct resulted despite the lack of intent, e.g., accidents with loaded guns on public streets or the escalation of minor public altercations into gun battles or, as the legislature pointed out, the danger of a police officer stopping a car with a loaded weapon on the passenger seat. *** [T]he underlying activity of possessing or transporting an accessible and loaded weapon is itself dangerous and undesirable, regardless of the intent of the bearer since it may lead to the endangerment of public safety.” Marin, 342 Ill. App. 3d at 723-27. Thus, the AUUW statute serves the State’s substantial interests in improving public safety and reducing gun violence. The constitutionality of the AUUW statute turns on whether the statutory limitation on the constitutional right fits proportionally with the interest served. The Heller Court gave examples of some restrictions on the right to bear arms which would comport with the second amendment: “[N]othing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.” Heller, 554 U.S. at 626-27. Such restrictions fit proportionally with the interests the statute serves, as the statute restricts the right to use guns for self-defense by persons who present special dangers to the public, or in especially sensitive places, where the use of guns would present a special threat to the people in those places. The list in Heller makes little sense if the second amendment permits the states to ban all firearm possession outside the home. See Michael C. Dorf, Does Heller Protect a Right to Carry Guns Outside the Home?, 59 Syracuse L. Rev. 225, 227-28 (2008). The Heller Court cited with approval nineteenth century decisions upholding the right to carry firearms openly, and emphasized that the framers of the Constitution valued firearms for use in self-defense and hunting outside the home. Heller, 554 U.S. at 598, 612; 59 Syracuse L. Rev. at 227. The AUUW statute, which broadly bans the carrying of loaded, accessible firearms outside of one’s home and fixed place of business, defeats the core right the second amendment protects, the right to use firearms for self-defense, whenever the need for self-defense arises outside of the home or a person’s fixed place of business. One commentator notes that statutes like the Illinois AUUW statute “essentially deny people the ability to defend themselves in public places using firearms — the tools that are likely to be the most effective for self-defense, and that the criminal attackers are already likely to possess.” 56 UCLA L. Rev. at 1520. The criminalization of all gun possession outside of the home may improve safety for some of the public, but it could have severe detrimental effects on the safety of those too weak to protect themselves without guns, or those who confront criminals with guns. I would find that, under the reasoning of Heller, the AUUW statute sweeps with breadth disproportionate to its legitimate purpose of improving public safety by reducing gun violence. I would also find that the AUUW statute is unconstitutional on its face, and therefore I would vacate Aguilar’s conviction for violation of the AUUW statute. Unlawful Possession of a Firearm Because I think this court is required by the judicial dictum rule to follow the reasoning of Heller and vacate Aguilar’s conviction for violating the AUUW statute, I would find that the court has jurisdiction to review Aguilar’s unsentenced conviction for violation of the statute that bans persons under 18 years of age from possessing concealable firearms (720 ILCS 5/24—3.1 (West 2008)). See People v. Dixon, 91 Ill. 2d 346, 353 (1982); Ill. S. Ct. R. 615(b)(2). I would also find that the statute that bars minors from possessing concealable firearms is constitutional, under the reasoning of United States v. Rene E., 583 F.3d 8 (1st Cir. 2009). In Rene E., the trial court found Rene E. guilty of violating a federal law (18 U.S.C. §922(x) (2006)) that severely restricted the rights of minors to possess handguns. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit noted that Congress enacted the law to prevent sales of guns to “ ‘emotionally immature [persons and to] *** minors prone to criminal behavior.’ ” Rene E., 583 F.3d at 13 (quoting Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968, Pub. L. No. 90—351, §901(a)(6), 82 Stat. 197, 225-26 (1968)). The court found the statutory restriction on the rights of minors consistent with the intentions of the founders. Rene E., 583 F.3d at 15-16. The court concluded that the federal statute did not violate the second amendment. Rene E., 583 F.3d at 16; see also 56 UCLA L. Rev. at 1508-13. Rene E. is a very persuasive authority for determining the constitutionality of the unlawful possession of a firearm statute. The Supreme Court “[has] recognized three reasons justifying the conclusion that the constitutional rights of children cannot be equated with those of adults: the peculiar vulnerability of children; their inability to make critical decisions in an informed, mature manner; and the importance of the parental role in child rearing.” Bellotti v. Baird, 443 U.S. 622, 634 (1979). The statute that bans possession of concealable firearms by persons under 18 years of age serves the substantial governmental goal of keeping concealable handguns out of the hands of persons whose immaturity leaves them incapable of the kind of impulse control and thoughtful judgment needed for responsible use of firearms. The statute that applies to minors also helps reduce violence of teenage members of street gangs. See In re S.M., 347 Ill. App. 3d 620, 625 (2004). The ban reasonably fits the governmental interest. The citizen’s right to bear arms depends on the citizen’s ability to make critical decisions in an informed, mature manner, and younger citizens very often lack that ability. See Bellotti, 443 U.S. at 634. Setting the bar for the full right to bear arms at the age of majority comports with long-standing enforcement of many constitutional rights. See Bellotti, 443 U.S. at 634. Moreover, the statute permits minors to have access to guns for certain purposes, self-defense in the home and hunting, as long as the minor cannot readily conceal those guns on his person. See Rene E., 583 F.3d at 16. I would hold that the statutory restriction on the rights of minors, banning them from possessing concealable firearms, does not conflict with the second amendment. Finally, I would address Aguilar’s argument that the unlawful possession of a firearm statute conflicts with the Illinois Constitution of 1970. In Kalodimos v. Village of Morton Grove, 103 Ill. 2d 483, 509-11 (1984), our supreme court held that an ordinance completely banning handguns did not violate the Illinois Constitution. According to the Kalodimos court, the Illinois Constitution does not make handgun possession a fundamental right. Courts should apply the rational basis test to determine whether gun control legislation violates the Illinois Constitution. This court must uphold the validity of the law unless the party challenging the law shows that it does not bear a rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest. I would find that the statute barring minors from possessing concealable firearms bears a rational relationship to the government’s legitimate interest in reducing gun violence, especially when that violence involves youths in street gangs. See Marin, 342 Ill. App. 3d at 723-24. The ban on minors’ possession of concealable firearms comports with the Illinois Constitution. I would affirm the conviction for violating the unlawful possession of a firearm statute, because Aguilar was not yet 18 years old when he possessed a concealable firearm. Therefore, I would remand the case for sentencing on the count for unlawful possession of a firearm. CONCLUSION I would apply a form of intermediate scrutiny to statutory restrictions on the right to bear arms, and I would review such restrictions to determine whether they serve a substantial governmental interest and whether the restriction on the right is proportional to the interest served. I would find that, under the reasoning of Heller, the complete ban on possession of loaded firearms outside of the home cuts too broadly because it infringes upon the constitutional right to keep and bear arms for self-defense whenever one ventures from the home, and I would find that the infringement is disproportional to the interest served of reducing gun violence. Therefore, (1) I would vacate Aguilar’s conviction for violating the AUUW statute; (2) I would find that the United States and Illinois Constitutions permit Illinois to ban minors from possessing concealable firearms, and I would affirm Aguilar’s conviction for violating the unlawful possession of a firearm by a minor statute; and (3) I would remand for imposition of sentence on the conviction for violating the statute which prohibits the possession of a concealable firearm by a person under the age of 18.