Today proved a brutal day for gun rights in Illinois.  Those seeking to turn the most law-abiding Prairie State residents into felons overnight danced with glee as Illinois' most radical Democrats passed one gun control measure after another.

As I wrote yesterday evening (as I prepared for a medical procedure today), Speaker Madigan wants to put these bills on Governor Rauner's desk to put him in a lose-lose situation. 

If he signs the bills, he enrages two million plus firearm owners in Illinois and enough of them stay home that Mr. Rauner has no hope of re-election.  If he vetoes them, he potentially alienates enough swing voters in the suburbs that he can't get re-elected.  There, I said it.  It's not that top secret if you're playing chess instead of checkers.

Obviously, you should call your Representatives and Senators, especially if they are Democrats or either party in the suburbs.  Ask them to oppose these gun control measures.  The receptionist is only using hash marks to tally the calls, so save your breath.  A simple, "ask him/her to oppose these gun control bills" will suffice.

After Action from Today:

First off, most notably, Gun Dealer Licensing (SB-1657) passed.  By four votes.

Here's the tally from the House vote.

Votes were not taken today on House Amendment 1 of House Bill 1469.  This bill makes possession of two or more magazines with greater than 15 round capacity a Class 2 felony.  Don't believe me?  It's in the bill.

That's 7 to 14 years in prison.

Oh yeah, same bill:  If you've got body armor, you're getting arrested.  Even if you're just trying to make it home after working the late shift at the convenience store.  Or taxi driver.  Or pizza delivery driver.  On a good guy volunteering at a soup kitchen in the rough part of town.  Commander Paul Bauer would never have approved of stripping good guys from the ability to protect themselves with body armor.

Also, no vote on  House Bill 1664 (Amendment 1).  It allows for anonymous complaints to a State Police hotline to report someone with access to a firearm is a danger to him/herself and/or others.  The problem (is it a feature, not a bug?) is that there are no penalties for unfounded complaints.  There is complete anonymity (even if Rep. Willis can't pronounce that word to save her life).  And the law mandates the Illinois State Police follow up on each and every call.

No doubt the anti-gun folks will look at Alinsky's Rules for Radicals and start making calls on family members they don't like.  Or high-profile gun rights people like Todd Vandermyde, Richard Pearson, John Boch or Valinda Rowe.  The Left knows that Walmart and Walgreens both sell burner phones.  That's assuming a person doesn't want to skip acquiring a burner phone and instead pick up a phone in Aisle 12 of their local Walmart and just call out a certain hotline number.

When the ISP initiates an investigation from the call, they may "request" (that's a nice way of saying require) a psychological evaluation from an ISP-approved mental health provider.  AT THE FOID-HOLDER'S EXPENSE.  Those will not come cheap.  And then there's the cost of lost time from work to jump through those "requested" hoops.  Failure to pay for and receive said evaluation and you lose the FOID card and if you've got a CCW license, you lose that as well.

So yes, effective cops can have baseless allegations levelled by the families of arrestees.  Prison / jail guards can enjoy much the same.  And obviously, so can NRA members.  Let's not forget:  so can politicians on both sides of the aisle.  And media talking heads.  Then there's college professors and local school teachers with students unhappy about their grades.  Who else would you like to get even with? 

Remember, the ISP is legally obligated to divert resources to investigate each and every anonymous call.

House Amendment 1 to HB1468 increases the waiting period on black guns to 3 days.  Passed.  Goes to the Senate.

House Amendment 1 to HB1467 is a bump stock / trigger crank ban.  Yep.  It passed overwhelmingly.  It goes to the Senate.

House Amendment 1 to HB1465 is a ban on black guns, .50 caliber rifles and standard capacity magazines (anything that holds over 10 rounds) for 18-20-year-olds who can today buy, possess and use said firearms.  Passed.  Goes to the Senate.

House Bill 0772 passed the Illinois Senate today.  It's a Lethal Violence Order of Protect bill, which would strip gun owners of their gun rights via an ex parte court order.  In other words, there's no due process before cops show up at your house and take your guns, by force as necessary.  It goes back to the Illinois House for approval.

Call your Illinois House member and Senator.   ESPECIALLY IF YOU LIVE IN THE SUBURBS OF CHICAGO or if you have a Democrat House member representing you.

Don't have the contact info for your State Representative / Senator?  No problem.  Here's a search engine.

http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/addressfinder.aspx

Make those calls.  Tell them to VOTE NO on these gun control bills.