More and more sheriffs are re-affirming their intention to not enforce Governor Pritzker’s precious Protect Illinois Communities Act gun and magazine ban law. The latest: Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, pictured above at a Guns Save Life meeting in Springfield in 2023.
From My State Line:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — January 1 marked the deadline for Illinois residents who own any of 170 “assault-style weapons” banned under law to register the guns with state police as part of the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
However, just over 1% of Illinois’ Firearm Owner’s Identification card holders had registered banned weapons as of the deadline. One reason for the noncompliance could be coming from Illinois county sheriffs, many of whom say they won’t enforce the law.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell is one of 94 sheriffs in Illinois, including Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle and Winnebago County Sheriff Garay Caruana, saying they will not.
“”We disagree constitutionally with this law,” Campbell said on Wednesday, according to The State Journal-Register. “Our plan moving forward is to use discretion and to educate the people as to what the law says.”
Kudos to Sheriff Campbell.
Kudos and then some. Ditto for Ogle and Winnebago county sheriffs as well.
A total of 94 sheriffs, if you believe this mainstream media report, signaled their intention not to enforce the law last year when it was signed. Recently, many of them have not talked much about it. Hopefully they’ll indicate reaffirm their earlier pledges to remind their constituents – and the governor – of their intentions.
Remember, when Pritzker signed the bill into law a year ago, only Cook, Lake and Champaign County sheriffs said they would enforce the measure.
Not sure about Cook and Lake counties, but I’m told by a retired police officer that Champaign County’s prideful sheriff discussed the matter with his senior staff. Many of them told him they would retire or resign before they went out to make arrests under the PICA law of otherwise law-abiding gun owners.
Maybe Champaign County’s Sheriff can “lead from the front” and do a few of those confiscation details by himself to test the waters.
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