Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
A lawsuit filed by Rev. Michael Pfleger and a group of activists last year that said lax local gun laws in Lincolnwood were to blame when guns sold by the town's only firearms dealer ended up at Chicago crime scenes has been dismissed by a Cook County judge.
Lamon Reccord, right, leads the march down Michigan Avenue. The Call to Action Peace March lead by Father Michael Pfleger, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Lamon Reccord and Ja'mal Green started at Pioneer Court in Chicago, marched to Chicago Avenue where they blocked the street and then marched back to the Chicago Tribune Tower Thursday Dec. 31, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
In the July 2015 lawsuit, Lincolnwood was listed as a defendant along with the villages of Lyons and Riverdale as one of three Cook County towns with permissive local gun laws that Pfleger and the Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities say contribute to the illegal firearms market in Cook County.
The lawsuit was based on a 2014 report issued by the city of Chicago that says 20 percent of the guns from Chicago crime scenes come from four dealers in the Chicago area, including Shore Galleries in Lincolnwood.
Illinois does not regulate gun dealers at the state level, but leaves it up to municipalities to enact their own local gun regulations. While state and federal guidelines require background checks and other security measures before a gun can be sold, the lawsuit sought to force the three towns to adopt more stringent municipal codes and ordinances that would serve as an extra layer of protection on the local level to do more to prevent guns from ending up in the hands of violent offenders.
"While the village of Lincolnwood appreciates and shares the concerns raised by the plaintiffs concerning gun violence, we have stated all along that the lawsuit was misguided and improper," said Steven Elrod, attorney for Lincolnwood.
As Lincolnwood and Riverdale fought to dismiss the lawsuit while refusing to budge on their existing local gun ordinances, the village of Lyons in October went the opposite direction. Officials there voted in new ordinances on gun sales.
Meanwhile, Lincolnwood and Riverdale filed motions to dismiss the suit late last year, and Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama ruled in their favor on Feb. 25.
Lead attorney for the Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities, Tom Goeghegan, and Pfleger said they would likely appeal the ruling or file an amended lawsuit.
Pfleger reacted to the ruling with disappointment, saying it wasn't possible to stop violence without taking the necessary steps to help fix the problem.
"It's sad to me that the judge cares more about the rights of the (gun) stores than the rights of the people, especially when we're dealing with the proliferation of guns during the highest rise in violence in Chicago since the 1990s," Pfleger said.
Jerry Turry, Lincolnwood's mayor, said the suit was without merit and said he was pleased with the judge's dismissal of the case.
"The city of Chicago continues to point towards others when they should spend more time looking into the mirror," Turry said. "Had any of them (Pfleger and the Coalition for Safe Chicago Communities) called us first, we would have demonstrated that our village ordinance is well-written."
In Valderrama's written decision to dismiss the complaint, he agreed with Lincolnwood's claims that a link between city gun violence and Lincolnwood's regulations of its firearms dealers does not exist.
Aside from Pfleger and the collation, the four other plaintiffs named in the suit are described only as residents of Chicago's south and west sides—neighborhoods afflicted by violence from guns obtained in Lincolnwood, Lyons, and Riverdale, according to the suit.
In his ruling, Valderrama agreed with Lincolnwood's counter-argument that the plaintiffs live in areas of the city that have been afflicted by gun violence, but have not been directly harmed because of purchases at Shore Galleries.
Riverdale's motion to dismiss followed a similar argument that gun violence in Chicago's south and west sides is not fairly traceable to Riverdale's local gun laws, although the judge acknowledges the city of Chicago's report claims that guns sold in the suburban firearms dealers have been linked to Chicago crimes.
"The court finds that neither the report nor the well-pleaded allegations of the plaintiffs' complaint are sufficient to establish that the defendants' regulation of firearms dealers has resulted in the disproportionate level of gun violence in the neighborhoods in which plaintiffs reside," Valderrama wrote in his decision.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.