Springfield, IL (Guns Save Life) – A new member of Guns Save Life in Springfield, a retired career military officer, has begun fanny pack carrying and was seeking some clarification on how to transport his firearms legally in Illinois.
Following advice in a recent issue of GunNews, he found the “Transport Your Firearm Legally” brochure published jointly by the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, printed it out and read it.
He and his wife had a couple of questions, so he called the number located on the back of the brochure. “For more information, contact Illinois State Police at 217/524-2525”.
Now, despite the work of Guns Save Life and other gun rights organizations in Illinois (including the National Rifle Association, the Illinois State Rifle Association and others), it seems some in law enforcement in Illinois still haven’t gotten the message. Here’s what our member found when he called…
He spoke with a female 26-year veteran of the Department of Public Affairs for the ISP named Bridgette and asked her about fanny pack carry.
Bridgette told him, “Oh, no. The gun must be broken down or inaccessible and the ammunition must be stored separately!”
“So, what about this brochure you folks published that has written information that contradicts what you just said?”
“I’ve never heard of any brochure like that,” she said. She found it online after a few minutes and then told our member, “Oh, uh, let me have one of our officers call you back.”
The callback never came, so a couple of days later, our member calls District 9 headquarters in Springfield. He is transferred to a Master Sergeant there (he didn’t get the Master Sergeant’s name).
Initially the Master Sergeant gave the same line of inaccessible or broken down, ammo separate and absolutely no “fanny pack carrying”.
Our member cited the publication and the Master Sergeant was unaware of its existence. Eventually, he found it on the ISP website. Upon reading it briefly the Master Sergeant said, “If you know all the answers, why are you asking me these questions?” then hung up.
Our retired military officer didn’t appreciate the gross insolence from a well-paid state employee so he called back and asked to speak to the Master Sergeant’s supervisor.
He was connected to a Lieutenant who was much more civil and polite. Upon looking up the brochure, he too said he’d never seen it before and said it sounded as though he needed to drop one of them in each trooper’s mailbox, and said he would do so upon the conclusion of the phone call.
“I kind of doubt he did it, but I want to give him the benefit of the doubt,” our member said.
This brochure is not a state secret.
Get yours today.
Google “Transport your Firearm Legally” and download your own copy of this important document, or come to most Guns Save Life general meetings and we usually have a small stack of these available for our members.
Photo courtesy Oleg Volk / www.a-human-right.com
“Despite training, public awareness, and five-figure wrongful arrest settlements…”, and I would add, despite the Heller Decision and the McDonald Decision, some still don’t know the law in Illinois. I quote from the very last item in this brochure: “Illinois’ Unlawful Use of Weapons law does not preempt local ordinances from banning firearms.”
“Banning”? They still don’t know the law.