January 4, 2013 - The Week in Review –
The Unabashed Arrogance of the Gun
Control Movement
As most of you
know, this has been a very tense week
for the law-abiding Illinois firearm
owner. As most of us were getting ready
to ring in the New Year, Senate
President John Cullerton and his band of
gun controllers were secretly preparing
a major offensive against your gun
rights. We got wind of the pending
attack on your 2nd Amendment
rights early in the week and immediately
called together our lobbyists and
strategic planners to build a defense.
When we finally saw
the public release of the Cullerton plan
mid-week, we were shocked at what we
saw. Based on recent events, we fully
expected to see legislative proposals to
ban so-called “assault weapons,” and
so-called “high-capacity ammunition
feeding devices.” However, those
affronts to your rights paled in
comparison with what Cullerton’s
proposal entailed. Here is a sampling
of the extremist proposals advanced by
Cullerton’s gun-grab plan:
- The
Illinois State Police would be given
full control over the design and
operation of commercial gun ranges in
the state. That control would extend
from the design of the bullet backstops
to qualifications of range employees and
even to the color of the paint on the
walls of the men’s room. The State
Police would determine the hours of
operation, what types and calibers of
firearms could be discharged at the
range, and even a minimum number of
square feet. Every range customer would
have to undergo a background check and
each customer’s visit would be logged by
the range operator. Any Illinois law
enforcement agency could conduct
unannounced and warrantless inspections
and searches of ranges at any time.
Those searches and inspections would
extend to range customers and their
property. That means that the Chicago
Police Department would have the
authority to raid a range in Peoria and
roust the customers of that range. The
bottom line is, this range regulation
proposal has the sole objective of
running commercial shooting ranges out
of business. We had never seen anything
like this before, but the intent was
clear.
- All
semi-automatic firearms would be either
banned outright, or be so severely taxed
and restricted that ownership would be
impractical. We expected to see
attempts to ban or regulate AR and AK
type firearms, but what we saw in
Cullerton’s proposal carried that to an
extreme. Cullerton’s gun ban would
extend to all semiautomatic rifles,
pistols and shotguns. Additionally,
many pump action rifles and shotguns
would be banned as well. This ban would
include such classics as the 1911 and
the M1 Garand. Of course, all Glocks,
Sig-Sauers, and other popular pistols
would be banned as well. Estimates are
that about 50% of rifles and 80% of
handguns lawfully-owned by Illinois citizens
would be subject to ban and confiscation
under the Cullerton gun ban.
- A
bizarre and convoluted scheme to
register all “ammunition feeding
devices” capable of holding more than 10
rounds – including magazines, stripper
clips, drums, etc. Since none of these
devices possess serial numbers, owners
of these devices would essentially
register them under the “honor system.”
Of course, we all know how well
criminals stick to the honor system.
The two bills
containing these provisions, HB0815 and
HB1263, were both assigned to the Senate
Public Health Committee for review.
This committee is notoriously anti-gun
and is stacked 6 to 4 with antigun
Democrats under Cullerton’s thumb. On
Wednesday night, the two bills came up
for hearing before the Senate Public
Health Committee. During debate of
these two bills, we heard straight from
the horses’ mouths what the intents and
purposes of these bills were. Sitting
there listening to the sponsors and
their supporters was a very maddening
experience.
Committee testimony
given by the anti-gunners confirmed that
the gun control movement holds firearm
owners in deep contempt. During
testimony, the gun controllers claimed
that the range restriction bill would
actually preserve 2nd Amendment
rights while providing public safety.
The gun controllers acknowledged that
most semiautomatic firearms would be
banned, but that people who wished to
shoot semiautomatics should be reassured
because they would be able to go to an
approved range and legally rent
semiautomatics to shoot. In other
words, you should not be upset about
surrendering your $5,000 target rifle
because you can still go down to an
approved range and get a junker out of
the rental case to plink with. This was
one of the most condescending lines of
testimony I have ever heard levied
against the right to keep and bear arms
– and the anti-gunners uttered it with
completely straight faces. The gun
controllers really need to keep in mind
that the 2nd Amendment
says "keep and bear arms,” not "rent
arms.”
Of course, nowhere
in any of the testimony given by the
bills’ supporters was there any mention
of how these restrictions and bans would
affect criminals. In fact, the bill
proponents became extremely defensive
when pro-gun witnesses mentioned
anything about violent gun-toting
criminals. It was clear that the
proponents’ focus was solely on lawfully
held firearms. In not so many words,
the supporters of these bills claimed
that they were good “first steps” to
achieving a “civil society.” In the
twisted world-view of the anti-gunners,
law-abiding citizens are standing in the
way of a civil society, not criminals.
As most of you may
know, the two bills passed out of the
Public Health Committee by 6-4 and 6-3
votes. The next step would be a vote on
the floor. Late Thursday, the
newspapers were reporting that the
sponsors are delaying a vote on the
bills because they do not have enough
support for passage. Please, don’t be
fooled by such claims. These bills are
alive and well and can be called up for
a vote at any time.
In writing this
note, I thought I’d give you a taste of
what the ISRA lobbyists experience every
day in Springfield.
We could not continue to do what we do
without knowing that you, the
law-abiding citizen, has our back. Your
support is crucial to our success – we
do all we do for you. So, with that in
mind, there are a few things I’d like
you to do:
1. Remember that
these anti-gun bills are eligible for a
full vote of the Senate at any time up
through next Wednesday. Do not be
lulled to sleep by media claims that the
bills are dead.
2. Keep an eye on your email for any
alerts the ISRA issues regarding these
bills or any other anti-gun activity.
3. Please consider
giving the ISRA a generous monetary
donation so we may continue the fight
for your rights.
Thanks for your
time,
Richard A. Pearson
Executive Director
Illinois State Rifle Association
