SAF Sues Illinois Agency Over Day Care Operators' Gun Rights

BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on behalf of two Prairie State residents, alleging deprivation of civil rights under color of law.

Joining in the lawsuit on behalf of individual plaintiffs Jennifer J. and Darin E. Miller are the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) and Illinois Carry (IC). They are represented by Glen Ellyn attorney David Sigale. Named as a defendants in the case are Beverly J. Walker, in her official capacity as director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS), and state Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, contends that Mr. and Mrs. Miller have been denied their rights because IDCFS policy “substantially prohibits day care home licensees, and those who would be day care home licensees, from the possession of firearms for the purpose of self-defense, which violates Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights under the Second Amendment.” “IDCFS substantially prohibits day care home licensees, and those who would be day care home licensees, from the possession of firearms for the purpose of self-defense, which violates their constitutional rights under the Second Amendment,” Gottlieb said. “It was our lawsuit against Chicago’s handgun ban that incorporated the Second Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment. It was another of our lawsuits that forced the State Legislature to adopt a concealed carry statute in Illinois. Now we’re in court to make sure that the state cannot discriminate against day care operators who merely wish to exercise the rights we’ve restored in Illinois.” SAF and ISRA are also challenging the ban and confiscation of certain firearms and magazines in the Village of Deerfield.