Due to the coronavirus threat, the Secretary of State’s office has cancelled all events at the Illinois State Capitol including Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day (IGOLD) which was to be held on April 1, 2020.  We have tentatively rescheduled IGOLD for Wednesday, May 13th, 2020.  We regret any inconvenience caused by this cancellation.  We will keep you updated.  The IGOLD raffle drawing will still take place on April 14th.  

The Super Tuesday Primary Elections have produced two front runners in the Democrat Party race to become the party nominee for President, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.  For gun owners it really doesn’t matter which one will get the nomination because they are both anti-gun.  Biden has said publicly he will appoint Beto O’Rourke to be in charge of gun confiscation.  If plans like these don’t motivate gun owners nothing will. 

Bills are being filed so fast in Springfield it seems like a paper blizzard.  As I write this, we are watching 254 bills and more could be filed at any time.  Most of those bills are in rules; some are, or soon will be, assigned to committees.  I know many of you are ready to file witness slips but just because a bill has been assigned to a committee does not mean it will be heard.  This time of year, there are hundreds of bills out there.  We will tell you when a bill is going to be heard and that will be the time to fill out witness slips.  If a bill is not heard, the witness slip will not count.  This was not true until the advent of electronic witness slips.  When witness slips were filed on paper they were kept, but the days of paper witness slips are history.

The Illinois State Rifle Association is fully engaged in defending the Second Amendment Rights of Illinois citizens.  In many cases our efforts have helped firearm owners beyond our borders.  One of the ways we fight for your rights is working to turn back both Illinois government and local government overreach and oppression.  As you will see in the updated list of lawsuits, we have worked through the courts and are now asking the United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to hear our cases.  There is no guarantee that they will.  Some Justices on the Court don’t want to hear Second Amendment cases for fear they will strengthen the Second Amendment.  I understand Ginsberg is leading the charge against Second Amendment cases.  Below is a list of the cases the ISRA is involved in and their status at this time:

A few weeks ago, I reported on the misuse of Colorado’s Red Flag law.  If you recall, Officer Phil Morris stopped 19-year-old Jeremy Holmes who was acting erratically; Holmes pulled a hunting knife on the officer Morris.  Holmes was told to drop the knife 36 times.  Officer Morris was going to draw his taser but Holmes attacked.  Officer Morris shot and killed Holmes.  Holmes’ mother, Susan Holmes, filed an extreme risk order of protection (ERPO) against Morris, using Colorado’s Red Flag law.  The whole incident was caught on the officer’s bodycam.  Prior to Susan Holmes filing the ERPO, Morris’s shooting of Holmes was ruled justified.  This ERPO, of course, raised holy heck with Officer Morris’s life, as it would with anyone.  The good news is that Susan Holmes was arrested on perjury charges and is in the Larimer County Jail.  I hope they throw the book at her and give the maximum penalty.  There is no due process in these Red Flag laws.  You are guilty until proven innocent.  At some point, I expect these laws will go before the United States Supreme Court and be declared unconstitutional.  Of course, thousands of people will have their lives ruined before that happens.  

The agonizing long waits to get a FOID card have plagued Illinois citizens for some time.  The law required the Illinois State Police (ISP) to issue a FOID card in 30 days.  During the Rauner Administration the time was extended to 60 days.  Still the ISP kept falling further and further behind.  We have to remember that a right delayed is a right denied.  This is a terrible situation that should have never happened and did not need to happen.  The ISRA, SAF and other plaintiffs are in court to rectify this situation.  This case is known as Thomas, et.al. v. Illinois State Police, et.al.