Illinois Mom Tries to Use Americans With Disabilities Act As Gun Control Tool

An Illinois woman’s quest to enact new gun regulations through court action appears to have hit another brick wall, this time courtesy of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 

Shanice Mathews has been waging her court battle against the state of Illinois and the Illinois State Police for eight years now, with the help of Brady’s legal team at times. The hearing before the appellate court on Tuesday involved her fourth amended complaint seeking injunctive relief, and each and every time the courts have turned her away.  

Mathews is seeking a court-imposed order to FFL’s in Cook County and neighboring counties  that they “keep and produce electronic records showing that the dealers use the Brady checklist or a similar checklist authorized by the Illinois State Police consistent with the ‘Don’t Lie for the Other Guy’ video that such dealers are required to view as part of their training under [state law].” Additionally, Mathews wants the state police to “notify dealers in writing that failure to provide such records at the time of relicensing for inspection by ISP will subject the dealers to the disciplinary sanctions set out under 430 ILCS 68-5/85, including the denial of the relicensing of such dealer.”

Mathews believes if these regulations are imposed, fewer people will attempt a straw purchase, which in turn would theoretically lead to less violent crime in her neighborhood. 

So far, the courts have declined to write new regulations for the Illinois State Police, and it sounds like the Seventh Circuit panel was highly skeptical about doing a task that’s typically reserved for the legislature. 

Appearing for the plaintiffs, Chicago attorney Thomas Geoghegan argued state law enforcement should take a simple action that would greatly reduce gun violence affecting children. Geoghegan explained that if the Illinois State Police enforced and documented a checklist of questions used by dealers at the time of a gun sale, it would help identify and stop straw purchases and curb gun violence.

U.S. Circuit Judge Rebecca Taibleson, who was appointed to the court by President Trump, questioned Geoghegan on the authority of the court to issue the plaintiff’s requested relief.

“Can you point us to a case that approves of federal court ordering a state agency to promulgate a specific regulation like this?” Taibleson asked.

Geoghegan responded by saying he was not aware of any case that supports or forbids such relief.

“All that we are asking is that the ISP use its authority, under its law, to provide a reasonable accommodation to these children,” Geoghegan said.

The “reasonable accommodation” language was invoked because Matthews brought a challenge under the Americans with Disabilities Act (though she’s now using §504 of the Rehabilitation Act instead), claiming that her son is “disabled” because of his repeated exposure to “gun violence,” including the murder of his cousin. Mathews says that exposure has caused PTSD and trauma-related impairments affecting things like his ability to sleep, read, learn, concentrate, think and communicate.

Mathews contends that ISP’s supposedly inadequate regulation of gun dealers contributes to the flow of illegally purchased guns into Chicago, and because those guns contribute to the violence that allegedly causes or aggravates her son’s disability, she contends that Illinois should provide a “reasonable accommodation” for him and similarly situated disabled children.

And what’s the accommodation?

Essentially, more regulation of gun dealers.

Usually a reasonable accommodation request involves things like providing wheelchair access or providing an interpreter. Asking for an “accommodation” that essentially changes how the state regulates gun dealers in hopes of reducing criminal activity by violent criminals is pretty bizarre, but Mathews has been on her quest for almost a decade. 

The Seventh Circuit panel might not even get to the merits of her argument, since the district court tossed her complaint for a lack of standing. 

Whatever route they take, I don’t think the panel is going to give Mathews what she wants. 

It’s also worth pointing out that Illinois already has very restrictive gun laws in place, including for dealers, and yet those statutes aren’t making much of a difference in terms of public safety for individuals like Mathews and her son. Instead of suing the Illinois State Police over a supposed lack of regulations, maybe she should sue the state of Illinois for its soft-on-crime policies like the SAF-T Act instead. 

Editor’s Note: The radical Left will stop at nothing to enact their extreme gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.

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