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From the ISRA:
HB 562 has passed both chambers. Yesterday, Wednesday June 16, HB 562 passed the Illinois House 75-40-1. The ISRA was neutral on this bill. There were two bills in the General Assembly, HB 562 and HB 1091. HB 562 wasn’t perfect, nothing in the General Assembly ever is. HB 1091 was absolutely terrible. Here are the links to the analysis of both bills: HB 562; HB 1091. Gun owners need to hear the truth and the truth is we were going to get one of these bills. I know many of you think we can just say “No”, but that isn’t how it works in real life and the Illinois General Assembly in particular.
The fact is that there are some good things in HB 562. The worst part of HB 562 is the private transfer provisions. That part of HB 562 does not go into effect until January 1, 2024. There is time to work on that section. If you listened to the closing remarks of Representative Denyse Stoneback in the Judiciary Committee hearing, she told everyone where the anti-gunners want to go, which includes mandatory fingerprints for FOID cards, increased fees on FOID cards, and only be able to apply for a FOID card at a police station. HB 1091 gave the anti-gun side two out of their three goals. HB 1091 had to be stopped. HB 562 stopped HB 1091.
Like it or not, the FOID card system is the law of the land. There are thousands of people waiting to get their new or renewed FOID cards. One of the short-term goals of the ISRA is to do what we can to get these FOID cards into the hands of law-abiding citizens. To not do so would make us complicit with the anti-gun side. The long term goal of the ISRA is to get rid of the FOID card.
We are going to stick to the facts here. The ISRA is correct when they say HB 562 is the lesser of two evils. The issue people have though is that they lobbied FOR HB 562. In fact, they distributed these talking points to legislators (courtesy of of the gun rights organization, Guns Save Life):
Due to this action, it gave the anti-gun bill sponsor talking points. In fact, he used the position of the ISRA to make the point that even they agree with Everytown and Moms Demand Action on this bill. Bad optics for them:
Needless to say, as both sides were presenting their cases, there was a major clash between the “let’s compromise“ side of gun rights and the “not one inch” side. In fact, one of the “not on inch” lobbyists got attacked by the ISRA lobbyist on a public Facebook post:
Todd Vandermyde is the lobbyist for FFL IL. His objection to the bill during the bill hearing is that forcing FFL’s to keep the records of private sales is burdensome and risky, as FFL’s shouldn’t be responsible not liable to keep these records. Now, here’s what’s discussed in the link he posted (besides the above talking points distributed to legislators):
HB562 “FOID Modernization” has been posted to the House Judiciary – Criminal Committee hearing tomorrow at 11 AM. We’re joining other gun rights organizations in calling for our members and supporters to file witness slips in opposition to the bill (CLICK HERE to do so for the FIRST AMENDMENT) (AND CLICK HERE to do so for the SECOND AMENDMENT).
This bill, as amended in the Senate: ** Adds a new record keeping requirement for private transfers for the recipient of the firearm. No matter if the gun was inherited, gifted or purchased, it must be registered with an FFL within ten days of the transfer. A second offense is a felony. Remember, under Illinois law (the FOID Act), a BB gun shooting over 700fps is a firearm. ** BONUS: The recipient gets to pay up to $25 for each firearm registered, assuming he or she can find an FFL willing to accept registrations and retain those records (and face liability if the records are lost). ** DOUBLE BONUS ROUND: If you as the recipient of the firearm lose your records with details about the firearm and the name of the dealer with which you registered it, you face a FELONY for the second instance. Fire? Flood? Computer failure? Tough cookies.
POP QUIZ: What always follows registration?
And for the final round of Jeopardy… All emergency court orders would revoke the respondents firearm rights without due process. Not just orders that specifically mention firearms or violence. And the respondent then gets to pay thousands of dollars to hire an attorney and fight to get his or her gun rights restored. AFTER POLICE SHOW UP UNANNOUNCED AND SEIZE YOUR GUNS. Resist if you must, but it won’t go well for you.
Those filing malicious, vexatious or meritless emergency court order applications face little or no risk of sanction. Proving perjury is difficult on a good day.
There are plenty of other deficiencies in the bill, but these are the highlights.
EVERY gun rights organization and even normally non-active in politics shooting clubs are opposed to this bill because they see the problems it contains. But not the Illinois State Rifle Association. They went neutral.
Now, let’s look at what the ISRA said in it‘s release today as noted above:
Like it or not, the FOID card system is the law of the land. There are thousands of people waiting to get their new or renewed FOID cards. One of the short-term goals of the ISRA is to do what we can to get these FOID cards into the hands of law-abiding citizens. To not do so would make us complicit with the anti-gun side. The long term goal of the ISRA is to get rid of the FOID card.
Which brings us to another section of the Guns Save Life article (click the links):
Meanwhile, the backlash against the ISRA is growing. National blogs are picking this up and it’s not pretty.
Mom At Arms has some research showing the ISRA supported the FOID Act when it was passed. Don’t click that link unless you’ve doubled down on your blood pressure meds and given them time to get absorbed into the bloodstream.
It’s true. In fact, even before the FOID was enforced as law (which enforcement began in 1968), the ISRA of the era wanted it to be an “experiment“:
The ISRA supported the FOID early on and was even against it’s repeal after it was law. It was an experiment and as we all know, the experiment failed. So no, we don’t have to “like it or not”, and the ISRA’s long term goal these days IS to get rid of the FOID, as they’re helping sue the pants off of the state, which is why people are angry that a pro-gun group gave an inch to the antis, as we all know what happens when you give them an inch (they take a mile).
The ISRA’s actions this week caused a massive uproar among 2A supporters. Other organizations have been coming out against them. Even the NRA told it’s IL members to oppose this bill:
Now, to end this, let’s do so on a humorous and positive note, as it is TRUE that HB562 isn’t nearly as bad as HB1091. It’s a shame Moms Demand Action thinks their bill (HB1091, which the main sponsor was Rep Maura Hirschauer, a former MDA member before assuming office earlier this year) passed both houses and is about to become law, cuz it didn’t. Don’t they know how the legislative process works?...
