Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was expected to sign three gun-related bills into law on Monday, but while the anti-gun Democrat put pen to paper to a pair of gun control bills, he took no action on legislation that would offer modest reforms to the state’s gun laws.
As I wrote about yesterday, the bill Pritzker bypassed deals with some individuals who’ve been charged with possessing a gun without a license. Illinois law already allows them to complete diversion programs that are alternatives to prosecution, while also giving them the opportunity to apply for a Firearms Owner ID card so they can possess firearms in accordance with the state’s draconian gun laws going forward. The only thing the bill would do is allow the Illinois State Police to process the application and background check once the diversion program has been completed, but before charges have been officially dropped.
Is that incredibly small step too much for the Illinois governor, or did he not want to sully his anti-gun grandstanding by also signing a bill offering up the slightst reform of the state’s gun laws? Pritzker still has time to take action on the bill, but at this point it’s unclear whether he’s still expected to sign it into law.
What about the legislation Pritzker did sign on Monday?
With gun violence still a persistent problem despite recent drops in Chicago, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a pair of gun control efforts into law Monday — one that requires Illinoisans to more quickly report lost firearms and another mandating law enforcement agencies statewide participate in a federal gun tracing platform.
The two modest measures are the latest additions to the suite of gun control laws enacted under Pritzker’s watch, including a sweeping ban on high-powered firearms and ammunition magazines that remains under legal challenge.
“I’m tired, frankly, of treating something completely preventable as inevitable,” Pritzker, flanked by about a dozen members of the General Assembly and other elected officials, said at a downtown news conference. “I’m tired of forcing our children to duck and cover because too many politicians are ducking and covering for the gun industry’s money.”
These are only “modest” measures because Democrats in Springfield have already adopted almost every major anti-gun effort you can think of; banning so-called assault weapons and large capacity magazines, requiring permits to possess a gun in the home as well as to bear arms in public, “red flag” laws, and waiting periods, to name just a few.
Pritzker’s bashing of the firearms industry during Monday’s signing ceremony was on-brand, but it was also nonsensical given the bills in question.
One of them reduces the 72 hours a gun owner has to report lost or stolen firearms to police to 48 hours, while also requiring gun owners to keep their firearms secured in a locked container if they know or “reasonably should know a minor without the lawful permission of the minor’s parent, guardian, or person having charge of the minor, an at-risk person, or a prohibited person is likely to gain access to the firearm.” The only exception is if the firearm is “carried by or under the control” of the gun owner or another authorized user.
The other bill requires all police departments in the state to participate in the ATF’s eTrace program, which is basically just an internet-based system to request a firearms trace. The only objection that the gun industry might have is that not every gun that’s traced is used in a crime, though the ATF (and anti-gunners like Pritzker) commonly refer to every firearm that’s traced as a “crime gun.”
Neither of these bills targets the firearms industry, even though Pritzker used them as an excuse to target gun makers himself. The real impact of the legislation he signed on Monday will be felt by gun owners, who can face fines and the possible revocation of their FOID card if they fail to report a theft or loss within 48 hours and who must now keep their firearms inaccessible to both themselves and others unless their actively carrying their gun inside their home.
The firearms industry makes for an easy bogeyman for the gun control lobby and their political allies, especially given the anti-capitalist views so dominant in Democratic politics these days. The anti-gunners have a vested interest in portraying the industry as full of greedy corporate gun makers who put profits over people, but never forget that their real target are the customers of these companies; the tens of millions of Americans who are exercising our fundamental right to keep and bear arms. The animosity towards the firearms industry is real, but it’s also a smokescreen to hide their hostility towards gun ownership and gun owners. Gun companies don’t vote, after all. Gun owners do, and Democrats are intent on getting as many of us as possible to vote for politicians who will infringe on our rights at every opportunity.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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