RED ALERT: Gun Control on the Move in Illinois Starting Tuesday. WITNESS SLIPS Needed.

Well, as Todd Vandermyde, the NRA-ILA's contract lobbyist in Illinois says, "it certainly has been a busy week".  What's more, the Illinois General Assembly isn't even in session! 

 

The fact that they aren't in session has worked well for us.  It's given some of the "squishier" members of the Illinois House (and the Senate, for that matter) to quit thinking with emotions and to resume thinking with logic and reason. 

 

However, the other side has not been idle.  The gun haters have teed up a number of anti-gun bills for action this coming week.  Without a serious outpouring of grassroots action by gun owners, one or more of these bills will likely pass at least the House or Senate as Democrats are eager to put Governor Rauner into a trick-bag once more.  Also, the Democrat leadership pretty much all comes from Chicagoland.  There's pressure from the far, far left on many of these leaders and Democrats to turn much further to the left or face a primary challenge.  While these challenges are unlikely to unseat many of these players, they are terribly expensive and inconvenient.

 

What's more, nearly two dozen Illinois House members have already announced their "retirement" at the end of this term.  Why is that significant?  It means they are no longer worried about being held accountable by voters for their re-election.

 

Here's a quick and dirty run-down on the bills.

 

HB-4107 the new semi-auto ban.

HB-4112 a bump-stock and trigger ban.

HB-4117 is another bump-stock & trigger ban.

HB-4120 is a bump-stock ban, but with a much narrow definition that only applies to stocks and not any other component. 

HB-4115 is a Tannerite registration bill.

 

In the Senate, we have a new semi-auto ban with an amendment to SB-236. This is different from HB-4107 as it adds thumbhole stocks as prohibited and a list of firearms in addition to the feature test.

In addition to new bills, SB-1657 is back in play in the Illinois House.  The sponsor thinks she might be able to wrangle the votes needed – or perhaps craft an amendment to pick up the final couple of votes.  Yes, she is a far-left radical, driven to ban guns and disarm the innocent and law-abiding among us.  She's not stupid and she's not misinformed.  If there is an amendment in the House, the bill will have to go back to the Senate for another vote.  Hopefully Springfield Armory and Rock River will stand with Illinois' gun owners and dealers this time.  We'll certainly be watching them carefully.

The new house bills are posted for a committee hearing this coming Tuesday.  Sponsors will call them if they think they've got the votes to pass them. 

Witness slips. Below are witness slips on three bills in particular that we expect may get called.  Your submission of these slips is important.  If the anti-gunners see gun owners as complacent, it emboldens them even more. 

 

From our friends at the ISRA:

 

File Three Witness slips NOW for Tuesday, October 24.   These witness slips are needed now in response to three new anti-gun bills introduced into the Illinois House of Representatives for the Fall Veto Session which starts October 24.

HB4107 – Moylan – Semi-auto & .50 cal Ban, Aftermarket Trigger Ban   This is a ban of your favorite semi-auto firearms, giving you a choice between confiscation now, or expensive registration of you and your firearms. Your normal capacity magazines will be banned.  Trigger modifications or aftermarket triggers will be interpreted as devices to increase rate of fire and will be banned.      HB4112 – Drury – Bump Stock Ban, Aftermarket Trigger Ban If you own a bump stock or an aftermarket trigger, trigger accessory or have made trigger modifications, they will be interpreted as devices to increase rate of fire and will be banned.      HB4117 – Moylan – Tannerite Regulation, Aftermarket Trigger Ban   If you own a bump stock or an aftermarket trigger, a trigger accessory or have made trigger modifications, they will be interpreted as devices to increase rate of fire and will be banned.  The bill will attempt to register sales of Tannerite to FOID card holders, through 10 years of records keeping.    Make your voice be heard by submitting witness slips against these bills in this committee hearing: House Judiciary Committee Hearing – 3:00 pm on October 24, 2017   How to create your witness slips: If you have an account already at my.ilga.gov, go there and login now. If you do not have an account, you are encouraged to do create one, this will make it easier to fill in witness slips in the future.   At this point, logged in or not, you click on this link to create your witness slip against HB4107: http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/107988?committeeHearingId=15285&LegislationId=107988&LegislationDocumentId=137219   If you are logged in, you get to skip to step III.   I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter "NA" for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.   II. REPRESENTATION: Enter "Myself" unless representing an organization.   III. POSITION: 1. Under description, Make sure that Original Bill is selected.  2. Indicate your position by selecting the "Opponent" radio button.    IV. TESTIMONY: Select the "Record of Appearance Only" radio button.   If filing without a login, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.   Then click "Create Slip."     Please repeat the witness slip creation (steps I through IV) for these two bills: HB4112:  Original Bill, "Opponent" http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/108015?committeeHearingId=15285&LegislationId=108015&LegislationDocumentId=137246   HB4117: Original Bill, "Opponent" http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/108049?committeeHearingId=15285&LegislationId=108049&LegislationDocumentId=137281     Afterwards, you can track witness slip activity for these bills in this hearing: HB4107 – click here HB4112 – click here HB4117 – click here