(GSL) – The Illinois State Police held a series of three hearings to answer questions and provide specifics on implementation of the gun registration aspect of the Protect Illinois Communities Act. The hearings accomplished neither.
From the ISP website:
On January 10, 2023, Governor JB Pritzker signed into law Public Act 102-1116, the Protect Illinois Communities Act (Act). The Act regulates the sale and distribution of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches in Illinois. The Act went into effect immediately upon signing. Individuals who possessed assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and other devices listed in the Act before it took effect are required to submit an endorsement affidavit through their Firearm Owner’s Identification Card account.
The Illinois State Police is holding three public hearings on the Protect Illinois Communities Act proposed rule. The hearings are scheduled at the following locations, but can also be heard via WebEx. Persons wishing to speak at the public hearing must do so in person and must submit a completed witness slip.
For more information, click here.
The hearings proved a disaster for ISP and not much better for the state’s gun owners. ISP Attorney Suzanne Bond (more about her and how she got her job here) and a Captain were basically “the committee.” And people had to register the day before in order to speak.
ISP Attorney Suzanne Bond.
Right out of the gate it became clear that at best, ISP wasn’t taking this seriously.
In fact, the more we consider the format of the events, the “technical difficulties” and the answers (and misinformation) given out, more than a few of us are wondering out loud if the entire event was simply JB Pritzker’s people ordering the ISP leadership to deliver a giant “F-You” to gun owners seeking answers.
Either way, it was a disaster for State Police. The annoying buzz on the first gun registry hearing livestream video proved our first clue.
The second hearing was arguably their best performance, although Todd Vandermyde made them look like idiots when ISP’s legal beagle Suzanne Bond indicated that a Star Wars lightsaber would indeed need to be registered as a banned accessory.
Then at the third and final meeting in a packed community center, ISP didn’t provide video streaming OR a sound system. That in a room packed with over 150 people.
ISP attorney Suzanne Bond may as well as have been a parrot. She kept repeating the exact same answer over and over: “Answers to this question can be found on the ISP website on the Protect Illinois Communities Act page.”
When questions got specific, she misstated facts more than once and asked for written questions to be addressed later. Some people pointed out they’ve been writing with these same questions for months without response.
No doubt JB Pritzker just smiled at how this whole series of public hearings went down.
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