Greg Bishop interviewed “Instructor Mike” Brown about his thoughts on the PICA gun registration scheme and the black community in Cook County. Mr. Brown is a former police officer and current CCW instructor. What’s more, as a Cook County resident (my condolences), he’s got a first-hand view from the belly of the beast.
Mr. Brown says he expects heavy enforcement in Cook County. He even calls the Land of Lincoln’s most populous county “ground zero” for enforcement action against those who fail to register.
Furthermore, Instructor Mike points out something I’d never considered: any interaction between police and the black community has the potential to go very sideways. That’s a polite way of saying that black folks risk of finding themselves on the receiving end of deadly force from police, even if everything is supposed to go smoothly.
Here’s Greg’s video clip of the interview he held with Mr. Brown – aka Instructor Mike. It opens with him saying a couple of times that he can’t take the position that you should not register.
I respect his position. Honestly, I’d never considered that particular angle relating to dangers the black community faces when interacting with the police. It’s a valid concern.
Again, Instructor Mike says he can’t recommend to people not to register because of that potential for potentially lethal implications of cops showing up at their houses to “bring gun owners into compliance” for those who fail to register like good little boys and girls.
Here’s my take:
First off, I have the highest respect for this gent. I like him. He’s smart, savvy and wise. He’s got a unique perspective. As a guy who dated and was later married to a black woman and loved her family both immediate and extended, I saw first-hand some of those issues they faced.
At the same time I don’t personally agree with his position about not registering but can respect a man (or woman) for taking that position.
Candidly, we at GSL have migrated our position from our earlier “DO NOT REGISTER” to one today where people need to decide whether or not to register their magazine-fed, semi-auto self-defense rifles and some handguns and shotguns. Frankly, it’s an intensely personal decision. Each and every gun owner has to weigh the potential pros and cons for registering and make their own decision on whether or not to comply.
Here’s the catch: Cook County residents who register guns covered by the PICA gun and magazine ban law are admitting that they’re in violation of Cook County’s black rifle ban. By filing that affidavit with registration information, registrants are giving Cook County law enforcement (or Chicago Police’s CAGE gun enforcement unit) everything they need to obtain a warrant to visit the registrant’s home to seize not only the unlawfully possessed “registered” firearms, but also the person who registered the gun for criminal violations of existing ordinances. Ditto for Highland Park and Deerfield.
We’ve covered reasons for people in the other 101 counties for not registering including the governor’s plans to “close the existing owner loophole” following a mass casualty event next year. We’ve written about how those who register may face mandated insurance requirements, paperwork fees relating to registrations and last, but not least, the potential for finding themselves on the receiving end of a “random” taxpayer audit by the Illinois Department of Revenue. If the hard left in Washington can weaponize the federal IRS, then Pritzker’s people weaponizing the Illinois Department of Revenue seems like child’s play.
All of that on top of the potential for criminal arrest for Cook County residents dutifully registering their semi-automatic, magazine fed defensive firearms?
It just doesn’t seem like registration is a clear and convincingly wise choice, no matter your ethnicity.
Instructor Mike, by all means, feel free to chime in below in comments or email me privately at jboch@gunssavelife.com. Or call 217 649-3702. I’d be delighted to offer you a chance to publicly articulate your position in writing, unedited, if you would like to share your rebuttal to the points I’ve raised.
Damned if they do. Damned if they don’t.
Say what you will. Those who choose not to register their banned items are also at risk. The risk being later confiscation. And even if PICA is quashed. Illinois will come after the naughty things with more unconstitutional legislation. So choose carefully. And do what you feel is right for you.
WOW, according to “instructor Mike” Cook (aka: CROOK) County and the PICA “law” is/are racist by way of those majority black citizens will be the “canary (in the coal mine)” by being the first citizens to be “held accountable” for not registering, and, if they register an already banned firearm they will be prosecuted instantly! Catch 22?
ILL-Annoy citizens need a Class Action lawsuit holding the Politicians that have sworn upon entering public office to uphold and defend our Constitutions accountable for their treasonous actions of writing a law subverting our Constitution and our Constitutionally secured Rights to “Keep and Bear Arms”!
Pray for America!
Blacks do seem to get the brunt of enforcement of gun control laws.
Oh that’s right! Gun control was used to keep blacks and others disarmed.
The courts are not going to help us. People need to come to grips with the fact that if you are a gun owner in Illinois, you have been targeted for removal by any means necessary. The soap box, ballot box and jury box have failed. Stephen Decatur Miller was correct all the way back in 1830, but even the act of suggesting a fourth box these days publicly will get you prosecuted for ‘terroristic threats’. We are a police state with no rights left. We are no longer citizens; we are serfs. Serfs must never be allowed gun ownership because it is far too dangerous to the state. As Americans, we inflicted this upon ourselves by allowing the rot to destroy us from within for the last 50 years.
A class-action lawsuit would get laughed out of court. Oaths mean absolutely nothing – they are hollow words with no legal weight in today’s society. Much like the US Constitution is in Illinois now; it’s political toilet paper.
Once again… the Cook County ordinance ONLY applies to those who live in unincorporated Cook County or a Home-Rule municipality within Cook County adopting the Cook County ordinance. If the Cook County Sheriff chooses to step over this line and make arrests and confiscations this will open another can of legal worms. I would not want to be the test case. However, get the facts surrounding this ordinance right. By the way Chicago’s ten round crap was pre-empted by IL CC legislation. I am bone tired of hearing the Chicago ten round baloney as well.
So they’ll show up at your door because you haven’t registered a firearm that they know/assume you have? If they already “know” you have it, then why does it have to be registered? As far as they know, any guns you may have had can be long gone-sold, moved out of state, etc. They can’t come into your home without your permission or a search warrant, and I highly doubt they could get a search warrant based on “we believe they have prohibited/unregistered weapons in their home.”
If you have bought anything through an FFL since background checks were implemented in Illinois, they know what you have. PICA is just another tool in their bag of tricks to get you to put the noose around your own neck either way. If you register, you make it easy for them to confiscate what you have. If you fail to register, you make it easy for them to prosecute you and confiscate what you have. There are no good options left to gun owners in Illinois, except to leave this shithole state. I have been agonizing this decision for the best part of a year while the courts dither and fuck around, and provide zero relief to law-abiding citizens. In the end, I am simply waiting to see what McGlynn does here in the next few days, and then I will make my final decision whether to register or not. I don’t expect him to rule in our favor, to be frank. I have no doubts from his words he has been threatened by the Bolshevik block who hijacked the case the first time with a quick reversal, and that he will fall into line because of it.
I personally think advising people not to register is legally unsound and will result in felony prosecutions of legal gun owners. I think this is bad advice and puts gun owners in the untenable position of fighting off a PICA prosecution that they cannot win. You not only will lose your gun rights forever for ALL guns, you may lose your very freedom and find yourself destitute when it costs you every penny you have in a losing effort. Without the courts, we cannot win. The law is not on our side. The decision has been made to rid Illinois of gun owners, and since SCOTUS has its thumb up its collective asses over a sense of ‘tradition’ about not getting involved ‘too early’, it’s going to happen. We have no friends, no legal support, and no possibility of prevailing now. The clock has run out, and we have been thrown to the wolves by those that are supposed to stand up for us.
Ultimately, I will likely move my guns to another state and home them with a trusted family member whom I have discussed this with already. It makes the most sense for me since this person would be inheriting them anyway when I die. Specifically, I will likely register to forestall a direct attempt to prosecute for possession, and then whisk the guns away when they start confiscations. We will follow in a couple of years when my wife and I retire. I can’t wait to put this communist dump in my rear view mirror forever, and take my money elsewhere. Fuck Illinois, Fuck JB Fatass, and Fuck the courts for hanging us out to dry and letting these SOBs win.
LiberalsRcancer is correct. NO ONE cares about us. Then you saw Senator Plummer go on Bishop on Air expressing SYMPATHY for the state police over the back and forth confusion about the PICA law. Not a single mention of sympathy for his constituents and he’s supposedly one of the most pro-2A in the state senate. Given what we’ve seen, he probably still is. That’s where things stand. These people run for office and get the votes of constituent groups like gun owners then when the rubber meets the road the gun owners are kicked to the curb and the elected official represents the state government, not the people. The ISP is the state government folks. If you voted for this guy or any other with his mindset you got shafted and PICA exposed it!
Once again I am sick of people speaking as if black’s are the jerry kids of the world. This guy does not speak for all blacks, as a matter of fact starting now, Damn it I do. Black people in America is just as diverse and qualified as white or any one else. So white people if you want a perspective from blacks contact me . This issue is not racial it is a legal one. So slow white people let me help you . When people bring up race they are hustling you . Either they want you to be afraid and sell you a solution or they think you are too stupid to think for your self. Racial issue are elementary conversations held by low IQ people. Wake up
Liberalsarecancer you are wrong. “THEY”….don’t know what you have. This is more bad information I am bone-tired of telling gun owners who SHOULD KNOW!!!
The 4473 Firearm Transaction Record is a Federal form completed each time a firearm is purchased. That form stays in a bankers box at the FFL from whom you purchased a firearm until the FFL license is surrendered or revoked. At that time an office pogue from BATFE collects all of the banker boxes full of 4473’s taking them to a warehouse in West VA to be stored with over 300 million like forms. The 1986 Firearm Owners Protection Act, Federal law, prohibits ANY government official from transmitting, copying, reproducing, or recording the information from these forms in any manner. Municipal, county, and STATE officers CAN NOT go to an FFL and demand to see these forms without a search warrant or court order. BATFE auditors may see some of these forms during an FFL audit, on average every 3-5 years, when the auditors spot-check to be sure the dealer is properly completing the form. When an IL FFL runs a backround check through the Firearm Transfer Inquiry Portal (FTIP), maintained by the ISP, NOT the Federal system, a check box exists for type of firearm; handgun, long gun, muzzle loader, other. The purchasers name, date of birth, FOID number are entered. NO INFORMATION REGARDING MAKE, MODEL, CALIBER, SERIAL NUMBER OF THE PURCHASE IS ENTERED IN THE FTIP SYSTEM. Again I am bone-tired of uniformed and ignorant gun owners. Get educated, get involved, stop spreading bullshit information. Who is “they”? Stop spreading bullshit information !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this post is not meant to be an incitement.
Jeff I have heard others make similar claims; I hope you are correct.
Can anyone verify what Jeff’s comment ?
Feel free to attack me personally all you want. It changes nothing as far as I am concerned. If you chose not to register, I wish you good luck on your roll of the dice. The bottom line is that, even if you really believe ISP and BATFE do not swap spit because of FOPA (which ISP itself says that they are not bound by – question 54 of the ISP PICA FAQ), you will be a felon on Jan. 1 if you fail to register. Once the deadline happens, you are no longer allowed to possess weapons covered by this law. You can either register before Jan 1 and take your chances with confiscation, or not register and take your changes with incarceration into perpetuity. All must decide for themselves.
We all think the law is unconstitutional but no one seems to agree with us. Frankly, if you don’t register at this point, you will never be able to use your gun ever again in Illinois legally. It will never be able to leave its hiding place. Move it out of state (my final option), and it can never be brought back into Illinois again. If these are my only choices, I might as well sell it because I can never shoot it ever again. Use it for self-defense, and you will be arrested and prosecuted for possession of an unregistered firearm. I can’t shoot it for fun, I can’t use it for self-defense, and I risk prosecution by being snitched out by some mouth-breather with a cellphone who sees my gun through a window or enroute to one of the few places I can still possess it. Sounds like great fun looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life. After Jan 1, you can never register it if PICA is allowed to stand. There is theory and idealism, and there is reality. Reality hits on Jan. 1.
I see no point in responding to you further, since you have obviously become unhinged that someone has an opinion that differs from yours. So be it. Do us both a favor and ignore my posts from now on. You crossed a line with me today, and I am done with you.
confiscation/registration d-suckers, proceed @ your own risk
How much more time must pass before these “back the blue” types accept they’ve been played as a useful idiot? Cops look out for each other and will defend their co-workers and cover up their crimes at the expense of the public and YOU, the “back the blue” suckers are simply there so that a segment of the population apologizes for them and gives social cover. The back the blue is a cult-like scam that makes its sheep followers feel a sense of belonging. It taps into human instinct and exploits it. Back the blue is the social version of qualified immunity because it gives blanket immunity to bad and deceptive police behavior that the public has to suffer for. Back The Blue = Screw the Citizens. If you think for a second a state storm trooper will value their own oath or your constitutional rights over their paycheck then you’re in for a rude awakening. When the political right starts flying Defund the Police and ACAB (all cops are bastards) flags then we’ll know the tide is turning.
Until then they’ll (not be democrats) while also being like this:
Gays for Palestine
Chickens for KFC
Cows for Burger King
Pro-lifers for 9 month abortions
Trees for chainsaws
And yes
Back the blue gun owners for their own enslavement
Lets not forget “independents for Marxism/democRATS” as well.
Same old tired, trite one note “refrain” to a worn out “song” (and dance) from the same “hate-enablers”: “ken”, “ben”, “amy”, “todd”, blah, blah, blah. Go spread your hate where hate and division is wanted.
I believe the gun grabbers do not want citizens to register their AR-15 type weapons under the statute. When the matter comes before the US Supreme Court and less than 1% of Illinois citizens register those type weapons, the gun grabbers will argue that in Illinois AR-15 type weapons are not a weapon of common use under Bruen standards and therefor unusual and subject to an outright ban.
You’re probably correct. Whatever screws the people and ignores the constitution is how it normally goes from the courts.
Peewee, I have worked in the retail gun industry at two FFL’s in IL for 10 years. What I speak is truth, both regarding the process of the 4473 and my personal distaste for lack of education.