Attorneys for the state of Illinois called their first witness to the stand in the trial against the state’s gun and magazine ban.

Illinois banned the sale and possession of more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities in January 2023. Lawsuits in federal court went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court on preliminary grounds, but was kicked back to the district court for final action.

All week in East St. Louis, litigants have been in the courtroom of Judge Stephen McGlynn arguing the case on final judgment.

Day 3 of the bench trial featured plaintiffs’ final witness Randy Watt. He served overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he described the importance of having full auto rifles in battles with the enemy and said there weren’t any semi-automatic only rifles in war. Back home as a law enforcement officer in Utah, Watt also described his history in training other officers and providing private self defense training after retirement.

The features on modern sporting rifles the state says make them “assault rifles,” Watt said, are mostly used for ease and safe use in self defense situations. Asked about the list of guns Illinois now bans, Watt said they are all suitable for self defense and different from military arms.

Dane Harrel, a lead plaintiff in one of the consolidated cases, said Watt’s testimony was powerful.

“And he seemed to draw a clear distinction between the two, the semi-automatic firearms which are available to American citizens, non military, obviously have a place in our society for lawful purposes such as self defense,” Harrel said after court adjourned for the day.

Day 3 of the trial also had the state call its first witness. Retired Col. Craig Tucker, who served overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and trained other soldiers for combat, testified that semi-automatic fire is preferred in a military setting for accuracy and not wasting ammo. But, he testified he would not recommend getting rid of full auto from military rifles.

Harrel said that is a point for his side in addressing the appeals court’s position on preliminary grounds that said the semi-automatic firearms like the AR-15 now banned in Illinois are too adjacent to military firearms.

“I think Col. Tucker effectively said that, ‘well, it’s the select-fire full auto capable ones that are for military use,’ so the ones that we are trying to protect and trying to kind of free from the grasp of this restriction kind of stand on their own,” Harrel said.

The bench trial continues and is expected to wrap up in East St. Louis Thursday.

BY GREG BISHOP WITH THE ILLINOIS RADIO NETWORK