Wood River attorney Thomas Maag filed an expert witness disclosure on behalf of the Langley plaintiffs in their constitutional challenge to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s law banning so-called “assault weapons.”
U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn was directed by the Seventh Circuit Appellate Court to develop a record on the weapons at issue in the Protecting Illinois Communities Act (PICA), and he outlined a discovery calendar for the parties including disclosure deadlines.
The parties were ordered to submit their disclosures and written discovery by March 13 and the identities of their experts and subject matter expertise by March 27. They were also ordered to respond to requests for written discovery by April 3. Only Maag's witness list was available on the public docket as of Friday afternoon.
McGlynn scheduled the next status conference for April 11 at 1:30 p.m. In his order, he wrote that the parties should be prepared to discuss scheduling issues and the discovery timeline.
Maag filed his list of expert witnesses on March 28 on behalf of plaintiffs Jeremy Langley, Timothy Jones and Matthew Wilson, or the Langley plaintiffs, but he added that supplemental expert witnesses may become necessary as the case proceeds.
J. Burford Boone III, who heads Boone Ballistics LLC, is expected to testify about “the ballistics of firearms banned by PICA and their suitability for various lawful purposes, including self defense.”
Boone is a retired supervisory special agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and was the primary special agent with oversight of the FBI’s Ballistic Research Facility.
Paul Leitner-Wise, who designs and manufactures firearms and holds firearm-related patents, is expected to testify “as to the mechanical distinctions between select fire rifles like the M-16 and semiautomatic-only rifles like AR-15 variants that PICA bans.”
David A. Lombardo, president and founder of the Chicago-based firearm training school SAFER USA, is expected to testify “as to the popularity and ubiquity of firearms banned by PICA in self-defense training courses and the utility of those firearms for self-defense and other lawful purposes.”
SAFER USA was founded in October 2006 and has trained thousands of students on concealed carry and tactical firearm use.
Randy Watt, former chief of police of the Ogden Police Department, and Matthew Little, who is a combat veteran and has extensive law enforcement training, are expected to testify “as to the popularity and ubiquity of firearms banned by PICA in self-defense training courses and the utility of those firearms for self-defense and other lawful purposes.”
Watt served as a law enforcement officer for 32 years, including 12 years in SWAT and 15 years as the primary firearms and defensive tactics trainer in the Training Bureau. Watt is also a published author and a trainer on police leadership at various levels in federal, state, and local law enforcement.
Little served in the U.S. Army Special Forces. He was a training coordinator and an operational supervisor on a major metropolitan SWAT team. He has worked as a government contractor in non-permissive environments. He has instructed foreign and U.S. military personnel and police officers, martial artists, and civilians. Little was also named a master class shooter with pistol and carbine by the U.S. Practical Shooting Association, the Steel Challenge Shooting Association, and the International Defensive Pistol Association.
Jeffrey Eby, who served 28 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, and Mike Musselman, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 30 years, are expected to testify “as to the nature of firearms and ammunition that are used and not used in the military.”
Eby’s military service included 11 years as a Marine gunner. He saw combat in Iraq and was an officer-in-charge of the USMC Small Arms Instructor Course, which developed the USMC Combat Marksmanship Program.
Musselman served as a Marine gunner and infantry weapons officer during his time in the military. He did three combat deployments to Iraq and another in Afghanistan.
Daniel G. Kemp, who is a military firearms collector and historian, is expected to testify “in the nature of firearms, ammunition, accessories and related items that are currently used in the military, and those that are not, as well as historical military and civilian firearms usage, their development, and their cross over of use and development, as well as their relative effectiveness for armed confrontation, including self defense.”
Kemp is a U.S. Army veteran with deployments to Korea, Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was last assigned to the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division. He is currently an instructor operating primarily at Fort Campbell.
Michael Dennis, who is a retired chief of police and current licensed FFL gunsmith, is expected to testify “in the nature of firearms he has used and confronted in his law enforcement career, as well as his knowledge and experience with the effect of gun shot wounds from both his law enforcement career, and his prior career as a paramedic.”
Dennis is also a firearms instructor and is expected to share knowledge and opinions of the types of firearms useful for self defense and his observations during his testimony.
Maag seeks injunctive relief against Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly on behalf of the Langley plaintiffs from the endorsement affidavit portion of the firearm registration requirement as “the crux of this regulation is to criminalize the possession of unregistered PICA regulated firearms.”
Maag explains that under PICA, Illinoisans who possessed newly regulated firearms, accessories and ammunition were required to register or properly dispose of the items by Jan. 1. Possession of these items without registration “is, drum roll, a crime,” Maag wrote.
“Defendant argue[s] about past conduct and incrimination. What past conduct can the “registration affidavit”, an Orwellian euphemism for a firearm registration form, provide, that might incriminate the registration? How about the most obvious? The same situation that existed under the original National Firearms Act,” he added.
Maag’s case has been consolidated with three others in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.