Were you one of tens of thousands of Illinois residents who bought guns over “Freedom Week” when a federal preliminary injunction blocked enforcement of J.B. Pritzker’s beloved “PICA” gun ban? If so, the State of Illinois says you can’t register those guns and they must be destroyed, surrendered to police or moved out of the state by January 1.
What’s more, there may be another “Freedom Week” – or “Freedom Month” soon – courtesy of SCOTUS.
Attorney Thomas Maag, a guy who has been racking up one 2A victory after another of late, hinted there may be a way around that should the law not be struck down as unconstitutional on 2nd Amendment grounds – specifically the Fifth Amendment.
On the other hand, the more cynical among us will say, “Gun control zealots don’t respect our Second Amendment rights. Or our First Amendment Rights. Why would they respect our Fifth Amendment rights?” To which I reply: The gun control zealots don’t, but we’ll see if sober, clear-thinking judges respect our rights.
Read this from The Center Square:
Illinois State Police: ‘Assault weapons’ bought during week of injunction are illegal
In January this year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the ban on more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities. Part of that includes a registry of already owned guns starting Oct. 1 with the deadline to register being Jan. 1, 2024.
When the Southern District of Illinois federal court issued a preliminary injunction against Illinois’ gun ban last month, gun stores were busy. Those sales ended six days later when late last week the appeals court put a stay on the injunction.
After the injunction was reversed while lawsuits continue, state police said firearms purchased during the injunction will be illegal because they were possessed after the Jan. 10 effective day of the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
“Persons who possess a banned firearm or firearm attachment are required to endorse an affidavit by January 1, 2024, stating that any banned firearm or firearm attachments were possessed prior to the enactment of PICA (January 10, 2023) pursuant to 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(d),” a public information officer with Illinois State Police told The Center Square in an email.
Penalties for possession of banned magazines is a petty offense with a $1,000 fine per infraction. Possession of prohibited firearms could be up to a Class 2 felony.
Thomas Maag was the first attorney to file a lawsuit challenging the law a week after it was enacted in January. He challenged the law on both Second Amendment and Fifth Amendment grounds protecting against self-incrimination. Arguments against the registry were put on hold when his case was consolidated with other plaintiffs groups in the Southern District.
“I think that these statements from the Illinois State Police are exactly the kind of thing that shows the Fifth Amendment arguments need to be brought to a head sooner rather than later,” Maag told The Center Square. A registry “puts those persons at risk of the state taking that exact information and using it against the owners of those firearms to try to obtain a criminal conviction for what have you, including but not limited to persons that may have acquired firearms during this six-day window.”
So don’t lose a lot of sleep about the Illinois State Police blustering over JB Pritzker’s beloved PICA gun ban. Despite the ruling by a single rogue Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals judge, this legal fight is not slowing down. Not even a little bit.
Which will make our inevitable win even more delicious – particularly when we rub the gun control zealots noses in the humiliation of defeat.
Sorry John. I have lost all faith in our government at this point. We aren’t going to win shit, because there are no consequences to the mother______s in the GA that pass unconstitutional laws, or judges that issue unconstitutional opinions. It is time to leave this sewer.
Interesting…
I am kind of sympathetic to Mr. Cancer though.
And since when does the Illinois State Police make laws, that trump Federal Judges?
That sounds like contempt too me.
And didn’t the ISP give approval for all those sales?
I bought one firearm, paid for it, got approval from the ISP, delivered to dealer and finally to me.
Ordered and paid for another, got approval from the ISP, and am waiting for it to be delivered to my dealer.
Now the ISP is saying I can’t have it!
Well, if you can’t buy guns; buy ammo!
The following is my understanding of the firearm purchase backgound check process in Illinois: Anyone wishing to by a firearm from an FFL in Illinois (and ammo if you use your new “unexpiring” FOID card where the clerk calls it in), goes through the background check process staring at the ISP FTIP (Firearms Transfer Inquiry Program) Portal. The FFL contacts the ISP through FTIP, which sends a background request to NICS ( the FBI, etc.) Unlike NICS which eventually deletes approved background check information, the ISP does not delete the background check request info, they archive it. The ISP has a kind of back-door registry on firearms, and have run it for years. Thus, the ISP knows who the potential buyer was, the date of request, and they know who the dealer was. They don’t know what if anything was purchased. However, if ISP wishes to know if an a certain individual purchased a firearm, they search their archived background check registry by name, find the date(s), identify the dealer, and contact the dealer to find out what Joe Lawful Citizen purchased on said date at their store. When they come to your house with a list, they are pretty sure what you have. It shouldn’t be too much trouble to search the data base by Freedom Week dates, to find out who took advantage of the temporary injunction. Then, start making lists. The Fifth Amendment may not come into play. If any of this is not correct, please advise.