David Lawson v. Chicago Police Department

David Lawson, along with his wife Colleen Lawson, were two of the four plaintiffs in McDonald v Chicago, which overthrew Chicago's ban on handguns.  In the period post-McDonald when Chicago's Firearm Permit program was in place, firearm registration was still required. There were restrictions in place as to what kind of firearms could be registered, some of these restrictions mimicked the so-called "Assault Weapons Ban" on various features that might be present on semi-auto firearms, this was a federal law between 1994 and 2004.

On August 31, 2010, David Lawson attempted to register four SKS rifles, these were all older original semi-automatic rifles that were compliant with Chicago's restrictions.  Nevertheless, registration was refused for these rifles, the reason given was that they "could" be modified to a non-compliant state, that is, to take a removable magazine that holds more than 10 rounds.  Hearings were held on June 24, 2011 and August 2, 2011 regarding these registrations.

Click to read the decision issued August 5, 2011.

Since this and other cases challenging various aspects of the Chicago Firearms Permit (CFP) and the registration of firearms,  Chicago has dropped both the permit and the registration.  However, there are still rules in place regarding what kind of firearms you may have in Chicago, along with the magazine sizes.  City regulations pertaining to handguns have been preempted by state law, however.  But some of the preempted regulations remain on the books.