Illinois Lawmakers Embracing Still More Gun Control

The state of Illinois is one of many that seems to fail to understand what gun control actually does. There’s no impact on the criminals who already have a gun and will break laws to obtain even more guns. Instead, it only hurts the average citizen who may want to buy a gun.

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Their lack of understanding, however, doesn’t stop them from passing still more gun control.

The Illinois state House on Wednesday passed a 72-hour waiting period for all guns sales while the Senate sent an extreme risk protection order measure and gun dealer licensing act to Gov. Bruce Rauner.

The waiting period expansion, SB 3256, now returns to the Senate after a 72-44 vote House approval while HB 2354, which would establish a so-called “red flag law” to seize guns from those considered at risk, cleared the Senate 43-11 on its final hurdle to the Governor’s desk. However, it is the gun dealer certification program, SB 337, which drew proved the biggest lift for lawmakers — passing the Senate 35-20 — and could be headed to a repeat veto from Rauner.

“This bill took into consideration the governor’s concerns about red tape,” said sponsor of the measure, state Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. “Seeing the bipartisan support it received in both the House and the Senate, I look forward to the governor honoring his commitment to public safety and signing it into law.”

Harmon’s proposal, a reboot of a more onerous licensing scheme rejected by Rauner in March, was rushed through the House earlier this week where it picked up a firearm registration rider that drew comparisons by Republican lawmakers to gun confiscationsunder fictional Soviet occupation. The Governor, headed to the polls in five months for an attempt at a second term, has signaled his displeasure over the latest attempt by Assembly Democrats to install what he termed a “duplicative” list of state regulation on already-federally licensed gun dealers, but has not come out and directly promised a veto on Harmon’s resurrected bill.

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The licensing scheme is particularly stupid. Rauner is right about this one. It’s a duplication of federal law that really won’t have any impact. Part of the bill will require employees to undergo training on how to spot a straw purchase, but I’m going to let them know a little something. They already know the tell-tale signs.

It’s the people who don’t exhibit the signs, who act for all the world like they’re buying a gun for themselves, that trip them up. It’s impossible to determine then, and no amount of training is going to stop that.

All this is going to do is make it more difficult for gun stores to open and operate, which I’m sure these lawmakers see as a feature, not a bug.

Extreme risk protective orders have been addressed, and frankly, I doubt Illinois lawmakers care enough to make sure these measures respect due process for gun owners.

As for waiting periods, congratulations to Illinois. You’re going to kill people.

No, that’s not hyperbole. It’s simply an obvious conclusion. You see, there are people who won’t buy a gun until they need one. By the time they realize they need one–getting death threats, realizing they have a stalker, etc.–they may not have three days to wait to buy a gun. While they’re waiting, they’re sitting ducks. Someone is going to die while waiting for permission to purchase the means to their survival.

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And these jackwagons will still be patting themselves on the back for their work.

Pathetic.

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