The following anti gun bills may be advanced this week in Illinois. Please contact your representatives and voice your opposition to these bills:
House Bill 6123, which is in the House Judiciary II – Criminal Law Committee, could be taken up this week. This bill, introduced by anti-gun State Representative Harry Osterman (D-14), seeks to create a confusing new felony offense for “knowingly” supplying a “street gang member” with a firearm. A “street gang member” is vaguely defined in the Illinois Streetgang Terrorism Omnibus Prevention Act, and this new legislation is undoubtedly intended to capitalize on the fears the general public has for words like “street gang” and “terrorism.”
The language contained in HB6123 is also incorporated into Senate Bill 3632 and Senate Bill 3709 by State Senator Dan Kotowski (D-33), which also may get a push this week. Senator Kotowski’s bills go even further than Representative Osterman’s, though, as they would also outlaw most private transfers of handguns, requiring they be processed through a federally licensed firearms dealer (FFL). Both SB3632 and SB3709 have been assigned to the Senate Criminal Law Committee.
Representative Osterman also has House Bill 5480 ready to be taken up by the House Executive Committee. This bill contains language to prohibit most private transfers of handguns, like Senator Kotowski’s bills, but removes the “street gang” language.
Finally, House Bill 5495, introduced by State Representative William Burns (D-26), is also in the House Executive Committee. HB5480 would prohibit law-abiding citizens from purchasing more than one handgun in a 30-day period.
Hi. I agree that loosely defining "gang member" and using words like "terrorism" in the bill is a sign of trouble to come. But why are the other bills so wrong?
There's a huge loophole in the current system where private citizens purchase guns and turn them over to others with criminal intent, for a profit. Why not require FFL intervention or better yet, a background check on the buyer?
While not entirely fair and does limit freedom somewhat, restricting the number of guns a citizen can buy within 30 days would also put a stop to the current practice by some people provisioning criminals with guns.
I understand chipping away at legal rights can be concerning. But the reality is that the current situation can be much improved with some simple restrictions that won't take away much from law-abiding citizens.
What would be fair is that anytime they take away one of these small (in my view) rights, they compensate by extending others. For example, why aren't guns allowed in postal offices? We should be able to carry everywhere. Why do we have to conceal our weapons? I think that should be our choice – and I wouldn't.
JR,
Thanks for the comment.
I disagree with your statement that there is a private sale "loophole." The law in Illinois is that anyone who wishes to possess, buy, or sell a gun must have a valid Firearms Owner Identification Card (FOID). Each and every day, the state police re-run background checks on every FOID holder, and revoke their FOID if they fail the background check. This means that there is already a background check run on those who lawfully buy/sell guns privately. More on that here: http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/05/12/anti-gun…
Criminals, of course, don't have FOID cards and don't care about breaking gun laws, so closing this (non-existent) loophole wouldn't effect them anyway.
As far as your statements about other gun limitations, my thoughts can be seen here: http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/04/20/reasonab… http://www.learnaboutguns.com/2008/04/10/gun-cont…
Hello Author,
In the words of the prophets: you guys in IL are bumming. The FOID seems like a raw deal. I was thinking of FL when I wrote my opinion. Here, your background check and most other materials used to grant you a carry permit are destroyed shortly after you pass it.
Private sales in most of FL is permitted without requiring any paperwork. Exceptions are large municipalities where they can (and do) choose to require the *buyer* to have carry permit – I think this is fair. But anyone can walk into a gun show or contact a private seller to buy a gun. This is where the so called straw man loophole comes in.
Reading your post in the link above, I see that you are delayed for 30 before you can have your gun. I think that delay is 3 to 7 days here in FL and no delay if you already have a carry permit. My suggestion was not to delay your first gun purchase but limit subsequent purchases to one every 30 days, if necessary to satisfy some law. But I understand how that can be viewed as yet another limitation on your freedom.
Why not list all the Pro & Anti gun Illinois legislators? We could use that info at election time.
All the Pro gun legislators are republican.
All the Anti gun legislators are democrat.
Vote all the democrats out and keep your guns.
Vote all the republicans out and give your guns to the democrats.