With a cocksure “We will see you in court,” Illinois Senate President Don Harmon hammered the gavel down officially marking the passage of the latest gun ban bill in the Senate. This one, Senate Amendments 3, 4, and 5 of House Bill 5471, includes sweeping bans of popular rifles, shotguns and even some handguns used for self-defense, it also includes gun registration for currently owned forbidden firearms.
The Illinois House is expected to pass the measure as well this afternoon after coming into session around noon.
What’s up with the latest bill? Dems tried to correct some of the language to not ban as many shotguns. But not understanding firearms half as well as they think they do, they failed. Again. There’s going to be a LOT of angry and upset gun owners. In fact, there’s going to be a lot of gun owners who will become felons without realizing it after the 300-day mark (if we’re not successful in our litigation to stop this once it becomes law)
If you see my Executive Director’s Reports in person, you’ll hear a slice of who will be impacted and I’ll share more here after the House approves the bill and the governor signs it. At that point, there won’t be any fixing it and it’ll make our coming lawsuits just that much easier.
Looking further ahead, some have speculated the governor might sign the bill into law as quickly as tomorrow, but political insiders say that would only dilute the media coverage of the event with the swearing in of the new session.
Instead, for maximum impact, the thinking is that Pritzker will sign it on January 17th or 18th to coincide with the SHOT Show.
Todd Vandermyde at Freedom’s Steel has the lastest as of last night. If you haven’t “subscribed” to his YouTube channel, you should. He does a nice job analyzing court cases and legislative updates here in Illinois.
Yes, Don Harmon. We’ll see you in court.
And we’re going to kick in your proverbial teeth.
You want to know what’s gonna happen after that, Don? Then we’re going to get our attorney’s fees back, courtesy of the State of Illinois.
And then we’re going to file more lawsuits against Illinois gun control schemes and repeat the process.
Two years from now, Donnie boy, you’re gonna have a LOT less gun control in Illinois than you have right now.
WHERE WE’RE AT TO FIGHT THIS…
Guns Save Life has joined a coalition of key groups, law firms and individuals here in Illinois to counter this bill. These include the Illinois House Freedom Caucus, FFL-IL, the Aurora Sportsmen’s Club, law firms, the Second Amendment Law Center and others. And Todd Vandermyde. We’re going to fight this not in the General Assembly but in the courts.
We didn’t get concealed carry by pleading and lobbying for thirty-plus years. We got it in court.
We didn’t block the SAFE-T Act’s No Cash Bail provisions by lobbying and pleading. Our side blocked it in court.
And we don’t stand a prayer of blocking this latest gun and magazine ban with lobbying. But we’ll kill it in court.
Guns Save Life has already identified about a dozen potential individual plaintiffs. These include some guy by the name of Darren Bailey. Yeah, you might recognize the name.
Our coalition has already retained not one, but two law firms here in Illinois to file a lawsuit in federal court within hours of the Governor signing a gun and magazine ban bill. Then we’ll file at least one and probably more follow-on lawsuits in the days or weeks afterwards to keep up the publicity nightmare for the governor and those who voted for this patently unconstitutional bill.
Our coalition is days away with signing a retainer agreement with the Second Amendment Law Center our of California to backstop our Illinois legal teams. Chuck Michele’s group and his law firm have experience beating California’s mag and semi-auto bans – even before Bruen came down last summer. Now, with Bruen, their firm is busy on a host of fronts in a host of states and we’re going to be adding Illinois to that mix in the coming days.
WHAT YOU CAN DO.
First, you can join Guns Save Life.
We’re at the tip of the spear fighting this move against our fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Having a bigger membership base helps a whole lot. Our members prove themselves exceptional people constantly and we work hard to take good care of them. And clearly, GSL joining this coalition to present an even stronger unified front to this gun grab that will impact the great majority of gun owners in our state has us working overtime and then some to serve them in this fight.
Yes, we’re altruistic in our advocacy and serve our members, not the other way around. As an example, unlike at least one organization, we negotiated a 15% discount for our members who sign up with US Concealed Carry Association instead of taking a 40% commission on all sales to our membership. Our members are a big part of what makes GSL so influential and keeps us going strong. If we can help them save money, we’ll do it. And our recommendations and endorsements as an organization and its leadership are not for sale.
Secondly, you can donate to our coalition’s legal defense funds.
We’ve retained two legal teams here in the Land of Lincoln already to handle the coming lawsuits (plural). To help fund our local counsel, our coalition has agreed to steer everyone to the FFL-IL organization’s legal defense fund. It’s not perfect, but time is of the essence ad the FFL-IL’s leadership, including its head Dan Eldridge of Maxon’s, assures us that all donations will be exclusively earmarked for our Illinois legal fight. I TRUST DAN ELDRIDGE on this, and you should too. This one is not tax deductible.
At our board meeting at the end of January, I’m guessing GSL the organization will likely donate something approaching $20,000 to this FFL-IL Illinois fund.
GSL is a small organization that gets big, proven results. But we know this is a big battle, and that’s why we’re working shoulder to shoulder with other aggressive groups, clubs and organizations to stop this huge attack on our right to defend ourselves and our families. To put that $20,000 from GSL into perspective, as a part of our annual income, that would be the equivalent of the Illinois State Rifle Association putting over $250,000 of their organization’s money towards this lawsuit. Or the National Rifle Association writing a check for over $40 million.
You can donate here:
To help with the California-based legal team backstopping our Illinois counsel, you can make a TAX DEDUCTIBLE donation here:
Second Amendment Law Center Donation Page.
Or you can send a check to Gun Save Life (PO Box 51, Savoy, IL 61874). Mark “legal defense fund” in the memo and we’ll forward it to either FFL-IL or the Second Amendment Law Center, whichever legal fund needs it more desperately.
*ALL* monies donated will go to attorneys. We’re not sending out fundraising letters or requests for attorney’s fees only to co-mingle that money with our operating funds or even a separate bank account and while letting someone else pay the bills. Yeah, that happens elsewhere, but not here and not in our coalition.
What’s more, we’re not hiring any professional fundraisers.
Not only that but our attorneys are giving us a discounted hourly rate because we’re non-profits and because they’re hungry for these cases because they are resume enhancers for them. Not every law firm gets to run landmark civil rights cases.
Thirdly, if your employer offers matching gifts for donations to charities, you can use that to double (or triple) your impact with the Second Amendment Law Center. They are a 501c3 charity and donations are tax deductible (and eligible for most companies to match donations where offered).
Fourthly, if you belong to a shooting range or a gun club, I would encourage you to reach out to their leadership and encourage them to get involved. Attend their next board meeting and ask leadership to make a serious contribution to legal defense funds and/or hold a fundraiser among the membership. After all, this proposed gun legislation will effectively ban most semi-autos in our state, seriously handicapping all of us when it comes to defending ourselves, our loved ones and other innocent life.
Lastly, encourage any gun businesses you know – retailers, manufacturers, etc. – to get onboard with this. Encourage them to post flyers to educate customers and encourage them to get involved (and donate to the legal battles ahead). Also, encourage them to write a check themselves. After all, if this legislation isn’t stopped, there will be a whole lot fewer guns and accessories sold. And frankly, a whole lot fewer gun stores.
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