Judge denies IL AG an extension

in right to carry suit

Oral arguments should be heard in the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals by the end of May or first week of June for two lawsuits. Both Shepard vs. Madigan and Moore vs. Madigan challenge the Illinois ban on carrying firearms for self-defense.

Chief Judge Frank Easterbrook denied the State's motions last week to consolidate the two and extend the time. Appellees do not need a formal order of consolidation in order to file one brief addressing two appeals. They may file one brief, or two, at their option. Easterbrook gave a May 9^th deadline to prepare a single brief covering the two cases.

Appellees previously told the court that the two suits are functionally identical. There is accordingly no need for time beyond the 30-day extension already granted, and this one-week increment. The court's last regular sitting of the current term is June 8, 2012. If the court were to delay the appellees' briefs until June 1 or June 11 (the alternate dates appellees propose), that would postpone oral argument until next September, an unnecessary delay.

Appellees were required to file their brief(s) by May 9th and appellants their reply briefs by May 23. That will permit oral argument the last week of May or the first full week of June. It is possible a ruling from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals will be issued as soon as early August.

Minnesota passes suppressor law

Late month Governor Mark Dayton of Minnesota signed into law H.F. 1816, an amendment allowing Minnesota firearms dealers to legally possess suppressors for research and development, product demonstration and law enforcement sales. The bill's passage moves the state one step closer to civilian ownership of suppressors and makes all the difference for Minnesota-based JP Enterprises, which began the groundwork of H.F. 1816 in the fall of 2011 with the direct help of Rep Peggy Scott, whose bill was merged with that of Rep Mike Benson before being voted on in the Minnesota House of Representatives. In recent years, JP Enterprises has devoted a great deal of attention and resources to their military and law enforcement division and seen tremendous growth in that area of the company. Without the ability to fine-tune designs for rifles and components to account for the particular gas profiles of suppressor devices, JP was restricted from many opportunities in the duty rifle market. The impediment prompted political action in order to avoid having to transplant JP's operation to nearby Wisconsin or South Dakota where suppressor laws are more lenient.

NSSF gives $4.7 million to state agencies

in past decade

In the past 10 years the National Shooting Sports Foundation has awarded $4.7 million in grants to 40 state wildlife agencies to fund projects providing novice and experienced hunters with more opportunities to go afield and new resources to plan hunts. States were encouraged to design and submit programs to meet these and other challenges resulting in a number of successes ranging from increasing access to public and private lands to improving online resources by providing maps with GPS coordinates to mentoring programs to marketing efforts using traditional and social media outlets. Many states have shared these models of success, saving time and funding by focusing on strategies with records of accomplishment. Among this year's 12 awards are first-time grant recipients Utah Division of Wildlife Resources ($42,315) for a program to recruit and retain new hunter-education graduates as hunters through a step program and North Dakota Game and Fish Department ($40,000) to conduct a study to better understand the rates at which various types of audiences approve of hunting and shooting and what new technology is most effective for delivering hunting and shooting messages.