Illinois is the only state in the union that requires gun owners to register with their state in what is called the Illinois FOID card which stands for Firearm Owners Identification. This law was passed back in 1968 and before it was many law abiding conservatives called the Democrat’s new law of regulation both unconstitutional and stupid. The Democrats said their intent was to reduce gun homicides. Not only did it not accomplish that, it allowed the public to get a glimpse into the criminal mind. As any thinking person could imagine, most gun crimes of Illinois are committed by people without a FOID card and many, if not most, of those guns of these crimes are stolen or ghost guns.
Democrats are never ones to let a good crisis such as a mass shooting go to waste so the recent mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, gave Governor J.B. Pritzker (D) exactly what he wanted to enact another new unconstitutional gun law. This time confusion and idiocy came along with it. The Protect Illinois Community Act or PICA law bans certain firearms and extended magazines. The law covers what some term assault rifles and extended magazines of 15 or more. The law was signed by Pritzker January 10th of this year for owners of these guns to be in compliance by January 1 of 2024. Only those who currently own them can be allowed to keep them if they register them with the Illinois State Police (ISP).
But wait, it gets better. Pritzker is required by Illinois law to hold two public hearings before any bill is passed and signed into law and the Illinois Democrats failed to do that!
Registration began October 1st and thus far only several thousand have gone to the Illinois State Police website to register guns, magazines, and ammunition. Many around the country are talking about Illinois gun owners’ defiance of compliance.
When the PICA law was in the discussion stage about a year ago some 75 of 102 Illinois county sheriff’s instantly called out the law as unconstitutional and said they will not enforce it. Now, a year later, that number has gone up to 90 some county sheriffs. Most Americans don’t know it but constitutionally it is up to county sheriff’s to organize militias if citizens are called to rise up against a tyrannical federal government as noted by House Representative Chip Roy (R-TX).
‘Tyrants Disarm The People They Intend To Oppress!’: Chip Roy Defends Right To Bear Arms
Of course Governor J.B. Pritzker, acting a tyrant, immediately threatened the livelihoods of those protesting county sheriff’s not thinking they are paid by local taxpayers through county taxes. People were laughing at him, including the 90+ county sheriffs.
Of course a number of lawsuits were filed all over the State of Illinois. Pritzker exposed himself badly when he appealed his new law to the Illinois Supreme Court where two new female justices were recently seated in 2022. That court has 7 justices. The Supreme Court heard state representative Dan Caulkins’s (R-Decatur) challenge to Illinois’s ban on assault-style rifles and high-capacity magazines. Caulkins’s attorney, Jerry Stocks, wanted to disqualify Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary O’Brien from the case, arguing that the judges’ “unreasonably large campaign contributions” from Pritzker and Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch (D-7th District) who were key defendants in the case would “undermine public confidence” in the judiciary. Pritzker gave $1 million each to justices Rochford and O’Brien during their November 2022 campaigns. The justices also received “six-figure donations” from a campaign fund controlled by Speaker Welch. Both justices refused to recuse themselves and a ruling came down against Caulkin’s challenge by a vote of 4 to 3.
Caulkin is now appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States. His appeal is based on due process, equal protection, and second amendment grounds. The above calls into question the separation of power between the legislative and judiciary branches of Illinois government as it appears justice has been perverted. One Tuesday, the 14th, the SCOTUS docketed the case challenging the Illinois Democrats new law.
Also this week, in a separate ruling out of a Federal Court in southern Illinois, a judge there denied a delay in responding to plaintiffs seeking an injunction against the January 1st registry deadline. Judge Stephen McGlynn denied the State’s motion but gave a December 21st date for a status hearing
Another suit was filed in northern Illinois in Naperville (Chicago suburb) to have the entire matter reviewed by the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals review the case.
The Illinois State Police held a number of public hearings around the State of Illinois to have questions asked and answered. Some of these hearings are available in video recordings on the Internet. To any thinking person, the new PICA law was not very well thought out, besides being unconstitutional and illegal. So many questions could not be answered.
More state and federal suits are said to be coming. Some of those suits allege that people involved have been bought and paid for by Pritzker and others who can be labeled gun grabbers.
What is most interesting about this new law is the civil disobedience being demonstrated by the gun owning residents of Illinois.
Illinois Gun Owners to Legislature, “We Won’t Comply” with Your Gun Laws
Fewer than a tenth of a percent of the Illinois’ Firearm Owners ID card holders have registered with Illinois State Police their semi-automatic firearms now banned by Pritzker’s new PICA law. Of the more than 2.4 million FOID card holders, the total for the 3rd week of the registration of October showed 2,046 individuals had disclosed more than 3,880 firearms and more than 2,100 accessories. There was also almost some 40 ammunition disclosures. That was 0.08% of FOID card holders, up slightly from 0.07% the prior week and up from 0.04% for the first week as it began in October.
It is now week 7 of the 13 week registration window and Illinois State Police have not yet mailed FOID cardholders official announcements of this new requirement. Some 99.9 percent of Illinois gun owners are seemingly telling Pritzker and other Illinois Democrats to go to hell as they refuse to even enter the ISP web-based PICA registration site.
ISP spokespersons can’t say if an informational notice would be sent to FOID cardholders. For those who do not keep up with the news either broadcast, streaming, or in print, this lack of notification seems questionable.
If the PICA gun ban is not struck down by pending litigation, those found not in compliance with the new registry could face criminal penalties with the deadline to register Jan. 1, 2024. If the unconstitutional ban is struck down, state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton, has introduced legislation requiring the removal of all information collected by the registry.
Many Illinoisans are now saying they will engage in open defiance over compliance as the new PICA law was rushed into law, poorly crafted, and obviously unconstitutional.
“ISP releases Week 6 Gun Registry Compliance… you’ll be shocked to see the change this past week”
The insanity that is the liberal left has many Illinoisans asking the valid question, “You want me to register or turn in my high power firearm weapons when you refuse to secure our southern border from an obvious orchestrated invasion? You go to hell!”
I do not own a semi-automatic assault rifle (aka hunting rifle). But I have shot one belonging to a friend. I was impressed by its power but shocked by how loud it was! I like to watch internet videos of guys and gals shooting the invasive wild boars of Texas using these rifles. A lesser gun could have such a viscous animal turn on you and kill you instead. In Illinois we do not have wild boar (yet) but we do have an occasional black bear come down from Wisconsin or big cat cougar come from God only knows where.
Two other statistics the news media never connects the dots on in this story:
Most of the mass shooters are mentally ill liberal white males and that is more core to the problem than the type of weapon used. Also, very few of the gun deaths of Illinois are committed by so called “assault weapons”.
Copyright © 2023 by Mark S. Schwendau
