Ezell v. Chicago, 7th Decides - REVERSES District, REMANDS for grant of injunction
http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/9C0NWF4M.pdfWe reverse. The (lower) court’s decision turned on several legal
errors. To be fair, the standards for evaluating Second
Amendment claims are just emerging, and this type
of litigation is quite new. Still, the judge’s decision
reflects misunderstandings about the nature of the
plaintiffs’ harm, the structure of this kind of constitutional
claim, and the proper decision method for evaluating
alleged infringements of Second Amendment rights.
On the
present record, the plaintiffs are entitled to a preliminary
injunction against the firing‐range ban. The harm to their
Second Amendment rights cannot be remedied by damages,
their challenge has a strong likelihood of success on the
merits,
and the City’s claimed harm to the public interest is
based entirely on speculation. 
This is a huge win.
It:
1. Creates a circuit split between Nordyke and Ezell.
2. Adopts the 1A irreparable harm standard meaning that we're going to be able to get TRO's or preliminary injunctions against laws that infringe the right to keep or bear arms.
3. Adopts strict scrutiny in everything but name.
4. Invalidates most of the newly revised ordinance.
5. Puts the en-banc 7th in a fun place.
6. Requires the evidence that lots of us has been saying is required to regulate the 2A. Realize that LCAV/CSGV/Brady et al now have to actually spend real money to fund real studies to find actual causation to have any attempt of making an ordinance/law stick. Sunnyvale would need to spend $25K to $75K creating a study of actual harm to pass an ordinance restricting an FFL - for example.
Preliminary injunctions are not final... but... They are un-final in name only. If you win a PI, you're going to win. Now, this may take a subtly different course because they changed the law, but the core concept here is that Chicago loses.
I have a hunch what SAF has in store for us, and damn its going to be fun!
This case begins a trend I expect a lot of. We create precedent out of California that we then dare California courts to create circuit splits on!
#WINNING!
-Gene
