Judge strikes down part of Chicago gun law as unconstitutional

By NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter nkorecki@suntimes.com June 19, 2012 2:19PM

U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan | Al Podgorski~Sun-Times

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Updated: June 20, 2012 2:17AM

A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday struck down a portion of the citys firearm ordinance, calling it unconstitutional.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan ruled in favor of a Chicago man who challenged a section of the citys gun law after he was denied a permit because of a misdemeanor conviction.

Der-Yeghiayan, in a 30-page ruling, called that part of the Chicago Firearm Ordinance unconstitutionally void for vagueness, and said it violated Shawn Gowders right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Gowder had filed a federal lawsuit challenging a portion of the ordinance that bars a person from obtaining a Chicago firearm permit if that person has been convicted in any jurisdiction of an unlawful use of a weapon that is a firearm. Under Chicago municipal code, it is unlawful for someone to possess a firearm without a Chicago firearm permit.

In Gowders case, he had been convicted in Illinois in 1995 with the unlawful use of a weapon. He was not accused of discharging a weapon illegally, however, but only with the possession of a firearm. At the time, the charge was a felony. But that law was challenged, according to the federal court opinion, and Gowders conviction was downgraded to a misdemeanor.

The only thing that Mr. Gowder did was to own a firearm as he was entitled to do under the Second Amendment. As a result of that he was treated as a criminal by the City of Chicago when all he did was exercise his fundamental Second Amendment rights, said his attorney, Stephen A. Kolodziej. We think the City of Chicagos actions in denying Mr. Gowder a firearm permit were punitive and draconian as well as violative of his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms.

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Judge strikes down part of Chicago gun law as unconstitutional