Illinois passed a draconian gun control measure last year that, after surviving various legal challenges, has become law.
One of the law's requirements is that owners of certain kinds of rifles must register them with the state police or risk being arrested. The deadline for registering the guns is January 1, 2024 and let's just say there's not a rush to register the firearms.
As of November 21, just 3,439 owners had registered nearly 6,600 guns they owned before those firearms became illegal to possess or sell in Illinois. How many firearms are affected in the state? We know that the registered weapons through November 21 represent less than 0.1% of the 2.4 million firearms in the state.
“We’ll just see how the process continues to work and we’ll share the data as we continue on a daily basis to do so,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said during an unrelated event in Springfield.
“I can tell you, at least for me, that I think all of us take our time sometimes when we know the deadline is 2 ½ months (away), that we’ll find the time eventually to go online, which is what they need to do and to register as they’re required to do,” Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said. That's true, except there aren't 2 ½ months before the deadline for registration. There are a little more than five weeks until the deadline.
People who owned those guns before Jan. 10 but don’t register them with the Illinois State Police by Jan. 1, can be charged with a misdemeanor for a first offense and felonies for subsequent violations.
But earlier this year, some law enforcement officials declared they had no intention of going after those who violate the law. After Pritzker signed the gun ban into law, an estimated 90 of Illinois’ 102 county sheriffs issued letters stating they “believe that (the new gun law) is a clear violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” and that they wouldn’t enforce it.
That's an amazing stand by the sheriffs, many of whom sent an identical letter to state politicians which states “as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement officer” of their county, they will not “be arresting or housing law-abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with noncompliance” with the state’s new ban on some military-style weapons and magazines."
Many of these sheriffs stood their ground against the unconstitutional COVID restrictions as well. Whether the legal theory they are basing their decision on will stand a Supreme Court remains to be seen.
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