Two legislative updates in one day.
How about those apples?
by Todd Vandermyde
This past week we saw a flurry of activity at the capitol.
Many new bills are being introduced, some good some bad. It would seem that the President’s call for gun control was taken to heart as they have put their entire wish list out there for all to see:
- Taxes on your right to own a firearm
- Registration of all firearms
- Insurance in order to own firearms
- Suing firearms manufacturers and dealers
- Licensing of dealers
- Allowing secret lists to remove your right to own a firearm
- Allowing people to petition courts to take away your right to own a firearm without any due process.
And the list goes on and on. Either they think they have the wind at their backs, or this is the death rattle of their movement; throwing everything they have against the wall to see what sticks. Time will soon tell.
At the present several bills have gained attention- HB-3160 is the anti-gunners dream of a violence restraining order. The ability for people to go to court, make any kind of claim about you and your temper; to have a judge, without your being there to defend yourself, order the removal of your right to keep and bear arms.
The anti-gunners have lost the overall issue at the courts, and now having failed at the PR war to move the needle, now want to grow the ways and means of making people fall into a prohibited category. They continue to try and deceive the public with catchy slogans and bumper sticker type bills that make for interesting soundbites but bad public policy.
HB3160 is one of those bills. It has been assigned to the House Judiciary Criminal committee. The House is out until March 1st. Now is the time to contact your state representatives to and urge them to vote NO on HB-3160.
Another bill that got some attention was HB-6008. A bill to restrict recreational shooting and hunting. Your NRA was on top of the bill from the beginning. The sponsor realized the over reach that the bill had in its drafting and has agreed to strip the language out of it. We will continue to monitor the situation and when necessary, move our members to action.
There maybe a lot of action this session, or there may be very little. A large part of that will be up to the leadership. But it will not stop us from pressing our case.
HB4348 introduced by Rep. Costello -this bill will stop punitive taxes on firearms and ammunition. It currently has 45 co-sponsors on it. IF your representative is not on that list please call them and ask them to co-sponsor the bill.
Likewise SB-2341 Sponsored by Matt Murphy has 6 co-sponsors on it and has been assigned to the Revenue committee. Please call members of the committee and urge them to support the bill and call your senator and ask them to co-sponsor the bill if they have not done so already.
We do not expect much to happen prior to the Illinois primary. The House is only in session 3 days in the month of March. and this is a time for us to be in contact with our legislators to let them know how we feel about the RKBA in Illinois.
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