Do you have a Democrat State Senator in downstate Illinois?
If so, it’s time to start calling them.
Ask them, “Why is Senate President holding pro-gun and pro-hunting bills from getting heard in committee, and then a free and fair vote on the Senate floor?”
They will him-haw around.
Ask them again.
Why? Because we can’t get an answer out of Todd Vandermyde, the NRA-ILA’s man in Springfield. Frankly, we don’t think he’s got an answer to give us.
So we want you to call your senator and ask him or her. And post their answers here in comments if they are notable.
We’re not alone wanting to know.
We’re not the only ones asking this question. The Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, which represents about 125,000 users of the great outdoors in Illinois, is asking the same question. “Why are they holding pro-hunting bills hostage?” Scotty Bryant, the IFOR president, said Saturday at the group’s annual banquet. “Why are they trying to play politics with hunting issues instead of listening to the IDNR’s wildlife biologists?”
Mr. Bryant also noted that those of you who live in Senator Scott Bennett’s district in East Central Illinois (in parts of Champaign and Vermilion Counties) should contact him. Bennett is the new senator appointed to fill the seat of Michael Frerichs who was elected Illinois Treasurer. Urge Senator Bennett to support the Bobcat bill. While you’re on the phone with him, we at Guns Save Life encourage you to also urge him to support the suppressor bill as well.
Springfield Office:
Senator 52nd District
218B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-2507
District Office:
45 E. University Ave, Suite 206
Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 355-5252
(217) 355-5255 FAX
Additional District Addresses
What’s going on behind the scenes?
Last year, everyone agreed on a one-year moratorium on gun bills, good and bad and we’ll tell you why: there was agreement that we needed to let the dust settle on concealed carry before tweaking on it – and we proved that we had the votes to stop anti-gun bills from passage.
The only bill that passed was a wildly popular bill that would sentence Illinois concealed carry instructors to mandatory jail time for fraudulently certifying individuals as having passed the required training. Guns Save Life supported this bill, by the way. Our view mirrored the vast, overwhelming majority of Illinois residents: If you can’t train without committing fraud and perjury on official documents, you need to be in jail, not in a classroom.
This year the moratorium is over. We’ve got a slim majority of pro-gun votes in both the Illinois House and Senate and an ostensibly pro-gun governor. Senate President Cullerton is blocking the pro-gun and pro-hunting bills from being called in committee.
Why? “We gave you concealed carry in 2013,” he and other anti-gun legislators will say. “You should be happy.”
They – including Cullerton – are conveniently overlooking the federal court order requiring them to pass a concealed carry bill or risk everyone with a firearms owner ID card being allowed to carry.
We won concealed carry through the courts. As for the concealed carry bill that passed: I can count on one hand the number of people made happy by the concealed carry bill they passed in the final hours of the final day of the spring session. Nobody on either side of the bill liked the final product, but almost all held their nose and voted for it anyway.
This year, Cullerton is trying to run the clock out on the spring legislative session, leaving all of the pro-gun and pro-hunting bills to die.
There will be consequences if this happens.
We are inclined to continue our push in the courts to take more if Cullerton won’t act to give us free and fair votes. Furthermore, downstate Democrat Senators who have enjoyed gun owner support and endorsements, including those from the NRA, shouldn’t bank on continued support if they are going to vote for an anti-gun obstructionist as Illinois Senate President.
What are we asking for? The list isn’t terribly long for now, but it starts here:
Concealed carry reform. (Why should law-abiding good guys be made easy marks for bad guys as “gun free locations”? Why should criminals have easy access to guns inside of cars parked in “gun free location” parking lots?)
Waiting period reform. (Why should you be forced to wait to take home your gun when you’ve got one on your hip?)
Suppressor legalization. (Banning suppressors for guns makes as much sense as banning mufflers for cars and trucks.)
Waiting w baited breath for mine to return call.
SO I guess this means we wont be repealing the FOID card this year?
Jon I personally wouldnt be bragging about the bill that puts instructors in jail.
We need less gun control laws not more.
I’ve got NO PROBLEM touting support of a bill supported by 95+% of Illinoisans and that makes perfect sense. It wasn’t a gun control bill, either.
One of the reasons I personally supported the bill was the then commonplace corner cutting by more than a few of Illinois’ new ISP-approved instructors. One found his way onto my radar by releasing his 16-hour “Equip 2 Conceal” class after roughly 10-hours – and that includes an hour drive from Champaign-Urbana to Decatur. This same instructor later did more of the same in Springfield – only this time he sent his students to a nearby indoor range with their targets and told them shoot their qualification and bring the target back to the hotel where he would be waiting for them to score it. Imagine that, right?
So, do you really think the average Illinoisan would support and defend that instructor?
The vote on that bill was darn near unanimous.
The Illinois legislature seldom is near unanimous about anything.
John
So if 95% of the people support tyranny then its a good thing?
Ever hear of constitutional carry jon. That’s where you dont need a CC permit to carry.
By the way jon if you study the concept of the Overton Window you will understand the idea of how politics works.
I dont support tyranny jon and if i’m in the 5% that knows better then good. I’m ole enough to know Illinois when it was a nice place to live unlike the pi$$ hole that it is today.
I’m not a supporter of that law. I’m against mandatory training. If training is required, then it should be knowledge based, not time based. When I took my 16 hours of training, I heard the same information repeated numerous times. I found the use of force instruction very informative and helpful, but I could have absorbed the information and taken the range test in under 8 hours. As long as those “evil” instructors taught the material and the students understood the material and they passed the range test, I personally have zero problem if the 16 hours of class and range time was not met.
95% don’t support tyranny, Bil1.
I know John. I know he’s heard of the Constitution and Constitutional Carry.
Nobody likes the training, but (too) few gun owners were engaged in the CCW fight. The gun rights groups in IL got the best they could with the resources they had.
We have to live under the rules and laws that have been enacted or face the consequences. And if the average Joe and Jane Illinoisan sees “NRA instructors” as a bunch of lying cheaters without ethics or sound judgement, how much longer do you think they are going to tolerate “NRA instructors” to be our CCW instructors? Also, I can’t imagine NRA retaining instructors who are lying cheats. It doesn’t reflect well on the NRA.
Until and unless you’ve got the votes to pass Constitutional Carry, Bil1, it’s nothing but a pipe dream. If Constitutional Carry is so precious to you, then move to one of those states – or help us get there in the most productive way possible.
I personally would rather see the number of “gun free” zones cut or the penalties for carrying in prohibited locations reduced to a simple fine if you refuse to leave. But that’s probably not going to happen overnight.
I’d like to see carry at our schools. That’s probably not going to happen overnight.
Both are more likely to happen than “Constitutional Carry” in our state.
Sam raises some good points.
We need to work smart.
Smart isn’t making the same mistakes as our opponents.
Smart is finessing positive changes, using education and gentle prodding of Gen. Assy pols “squishy” on guns.
The more of us who contact them, and the more reasoned, reasonable and intelligent we approach them, the more likely we’re going to get positive outcomes.
There’s a lot of shades of gray between black and white. Some might say there’s fifty, but it’s closer to infinity. Moving the ball closer to white is a win, even if it’s inches.
Asking for the moon and taking a setback is still a loss, even if it “feels good” to be pure in your demands.
John
Getting this topic back on track, I called mine, even though he’s a Republican. His receptionist assured me he was on board with what we wanted and was lobbying his Democrat counterparts to bring these bills to a vote.
I wonder how much impact that will have.
After all, peeking into some of those offices, I saw all sorts of far-left stuff in some Democrat Senator offices, from flags and posters with everything from the gay mafia to Che Guevera (or however you spell his name). Even the hammer and sickle too.
I wish i had something notable to mention after leaving a message. Alas it isn’t to be for now.
Please share this story on political and firearms blogs. We need to call these downstate Democrats early and often. Even if you don’t live in their district, give them a call.
It’s time we let them know we’re tired of being ignored and ignoring us will have consequences.
John