Springfield, IL -(AmmoLand.com)- Congratulations to the Illinois State Air Pistol Team for taking the Gold in the NRA National Air Pistol Postal Match.
The team is made up of Scott Breyer, Anatoly Andrianov, Adam Nyenhuis, John LaBusier and Mike Keefe. The competition was very close between first and second but the Illinois team won by two points. Great job!
After you have been in Springfield lobbying for a while you notice your senses becoming more acute. One of those senses is your sense of smell. In other words, you read a bill and you think to yourself, “there is something about this bill that smells funny.” This is known as the “sniff test” and you can get amazingly good at smelling a rat.
One such bill is SB3076. SB3076 calls for giving certain county emergency management agencies police powers (in counties over 500,000, with a city over 1,000,000). That is Cook County. The first question is why would county emergency management agencies need police powers? We already have a number of police agencies. We have local police departments, sheriffs police, State Police, conservation police, the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, United States Marshals, interagency tactical teams and who knows what else running around.
SB3076 asks authority for a litany of things. Some of the things that jumped out was the right to establish their own private police force and to enforce whatever controls they would deem necessary to “protect the county and its elected officials.” That folks, is county wide martial law. They are also requesting authority for access to data bases. They could find out who has firearms and come and seize them as one of the operations of this new private police force. In fact, this could grow into a private army controlled by the county board and its officers. How would you like to have Toni Preckwinkle, the Cook County Board Chairwoman, in charge of your freedom?
Even if that never came to pass the potential is still there. If this new police organization wanted to, it could still find out about your firearms, your FTIP checks and cause you all kinds of unnecessary grief, and all on the tax payers dime. This new police organization does not seem to be limited to the county it was formed in because it appears to have statewide jurisdiction.
On Wednesday, April 20th, SB3076 came up in the Local Government Committee of the Senate. We worked as hard and fast as we could. There were over 500 witness slips opposing the bill. Thank you everyone. We showed up for the Local Government Committee and it was announced that SB3076 would not be called, a sigh of relief was had by all. We had beaten them and they knew it. Springfield is a place where bills never die until the end of the Session. Sure enough, SB3076 suddenly popped up in the Executive Committee. It had been reassigned with a one hour posting notice. That means the opposition only has one hour to find out about it, lobby against it, get witness slips filed, prepare for testimony, and be in Committee.
Most of that can’t be done of course, which is the idea. The Executive Committee is a different animal. The Executive Committee is owned and operated by the leaders of the House and Senate, Mr. Madigan and Mr. Cullerton – period. If they want a controversial bill out, no matter what, the Executive Committee is where it goes. SB3076 passed out of Executive Committee, 9 to 5. SB3076 is now on Second Reading and the bill can be amended, if necessary. The bill can then go to Third Reading, and after that, can be voted on. As you can see, this stuff can move pretty fast. That is why you have to be ready. In the last thirty days of Session, I urge you to check for alerts several times a day.
The Legislature is out next week but will be back in Session on May 3rd. May 3rd until May 31st doesn’t seem that long, but in the Illinois Legislature, it is an eternity. Days are often like weeks. Please contact your State Senators in their District offices and tell them you oppose SB3076. When they are back in Springfield after May 3rd, please contact them there also and tell them or leave a message, that you oppose SB3076. Remember their legislative assistants can’t speak for them but are there to take messages for them. Be polite. We will keep you informed.
Thanks for being a member.
This week at the ISRA Range:
- April 24 – ISRA Combat Pistol League Orientation, Ranges 10 & 11, 8:00am until noon
- April 26 – ISRA Tuesday Night Irregular League, Range 3, noon until dusk
- May 4 – ISRA F-Class League, Range 3, 5:00pm until dusk
Check out ISRA’s website at www.isra.org! Tell us what you think!
Follow the ISRA on Twitter and Facebook. Give the gift of an ISRA membership. Not an ISRA Member? Join Today!
About Illinois State Rifle Association:
The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding Illinois firearm owners.
For more information, visit: www.isra.org.