February 15, 2025
A: PICA is an acronym for the emotionally charged name “Protect Illinois Communities Act”. This is a partisan and unconstitutional firearm registry scheme, gun ban, magazine ban and ammunition ban that was drafted, enrolled and passed during the lame duck session of the 102nd Illinois General Assembly. This was done by taking HB5471, a bill regarding Illinois Insurance Code that had already passed out of the Illinois House of Representatives, gutting the existing content and replacing it with “PICA” wording via senate floor amendments. The amended bill passed out of the Illinois Senate on a partisan vote and was returned to the Illinois House for concurrence vote, again along party lines. The Governor of Illinois immediately signed it to great fanfare. The whole process took about 48 hours.
PICA bans a variety of semi-automatic firearms based on cosmetic features, magazines based on capacity, .50BMG firearms and ammunition, and others. The list of what’s banned and what isn’t can be changed later by the Illinois State Police without further legislation, but that might not be likely (ISP FAQ #2).
All Illinois gun owners are encouraged to download and read the PICA in its entirety. Remember how convoluted it is, how accusatory it is. Remember this when it comes time to donate to the ISRA, attend IGOLD and local meetings, and when you are in the voting booth.
A: There are several lawsuits in play, in state and federal court. The current federal lawsuit is a combined suit called Barnett v. Raoul. This case has the potential of reaching the United States Supreme Court and having nationwide impact, like DC v Heller, McDonald v Chicago and NYSRPA v Bruen. The wheels of justice do not always turn quickly, so make sure that you are an ISRA member and remain signed up for ISRA Alerts and Thursday Bulletins for breaking news about the lawsuits. The ISRA has a page listing current and past lawsuits.
A: Perhaps not very many. But don’t use that to guide you whether or not to comply. Everyone must make their own decision.
There are approximately 2.5 million Illinois residents with a FOID card. There were approximately 29,400 FOID holders submitting “affidavits” (PICA word for “registrations”) before the legal cutoff date of 1/1/2024. Another 6,000 FOID holders submitted registrations in the following month, and no stats are available on the ISP page for the next 12 months after that. If a person were to review the list of banned firearms, they might come to the conclusion there might not be complete compliance.
A: There has been no news of sweeping PICA enforcement raids. There has been evidence of at least one case where charges for “Assault Weapon Possession” were added onto to an arrest.
The Q&A’s above are ones that you will not find on the Illinois State Police’s list of PICA FAQs. Their list is very extensive, subject to change, and has been changed multiple times.