If you thought anti-gun Illinois lawmakers had already passed just about every restrictive gun law they could think of, well, you thought wrong.
According to a report at sj-r.com, Illinois legislators are now pushing two different schemes. Senate Bill 3971 and House Bill 5891 would prohibit the possession of a firearm outside its owner’s “immediate possession or control” and increases the age to 18 from 13 where “safe storage” in homes are required.
The legislation’s language states that the measure: “Provides that a firearm owner shall not store or keep any firearm in any premises where the firearm owner knows or reasonably should know a minor without the lawful permission of the minor’s parent, guardian, or person having charge of the minor, an at-risk person, or a prohibited person is likely to gain access to the firearm unless the firearm is secured in a locked container, properly engaged so as to render the firearm inaccessible or unusable to any person other than the owner or other lawfully authorized user.”
According to the legislation, if an “unauthorized” person gains access to a firearm, the gun’s owner faces penalties ranging from $500 to $1,000 per violation. If a minor, “at-risk” person or person prohibited from owning a firearm gains access to the gun and uses it to injure or cause the death of another person, un firearms owners could receive penalties of up to $10,000.
While there is obviously nothing wrong with prudent firearms storage, mandating how citizens store their firearms runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court precedent. In the 2008 case District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court made clear that the Second Amendment includes the right to keep “any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense.”
The other proposal, contained within Senate Bill 3973 and House Bill 5888, would further victimize unfortunate gun owners who are the victims of property crime by potentially revoking their Firearm Owner’s Identification Card (FOID) if they don’t report the theft within 48 hours.
“If a law enforcement official determines that a person has failed to report a lost or stolen firearm as required by Section 24-4.1 of the Criminal Code of 2012, then the law enforcement officer shall, within 24 hours of making the determination, notify the Illinois State Police that the person has failed to report a lost or stolen firearm,” the measure states. “The law enforcement official shall notify the Illinois State Police in a form and manner prescribed by the Illinois State Police. The Illinois State Police shall determine whether to revoke the person’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card under Section 8 of this act. Any information disclosed under this subsection shall remain privileged and confidential, and shall not be redisclosed, except as required under Section (e) of Section 3.1 of this Act, nor used for any other purpose.”
In the aftermath of a burglary or robbery, victims are occupied with a host of concerns, the first being the safety of their loved ones and themselves. It is unacceptable to place an additional burden on individuals during this time of hardship, and laws that do so are simply criminalizing gun owners for the illegal activity of criminals preying upon those gun owners. Additionally, a 2018 survey of firearms studies conducted by the Rand Corporation found no research demonstrating lost or stolen reporting laws produce any desirable outcomes.
These measures could be heard by the state legislature as soon as the six-day veto session set for Nov. 12-14 and Nov. 14-19.
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