U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker quickly became furious when what appears to be a majority of Prairie State county sheriffs announced they will not enforce the state’s new restrictive gun control law banning so-called “assault weapons” and “high-capacity” magazines.
According to MyStateLine, the new law requires current owners of affected guns to register them with the State Police. It also bans the future sales “of about 100 different semi-automatic pistols, shotguns, and rifles.”
Pritzker, who speedily signed the legislation, had a fit when sheriffs began telling their constituents they won’t enforce the ban. According to WGN and WTVO, “As are all law enforcement all across our state and they will in fact do their job or they won’t be in their job,” Pritzker told reporters.
But Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, which is preparing to file a federal lawsuit against the new law, told Ammoland News in a telephone conversation sheriffs are elected, and Pritzker cannot fire them.
“I don’t know how much (the resistance by sheriffs) will play into” the lawsuit scenario, Pearson said.
But he does know how the public is reacting, and up and down the state, “people are furious.” Since Pritzker signed the legislation—HB 5471—Pearson said the ISRA office telephones have been “ringing off the hook.”
In addition to banning future sales of semiautomatic firearms, the new law bans .50-caliber firearms.
KSDK News reported Greene County Sheriff Rob McMillen and Macoupin County Sheriff Shawn Kahl posted on their department Facebook pages they will not enforce the law. McMillan accurately predicted his decision would get plenty of concurring opinions from other Illinois sheriffs. Sheriff Kahl said he believes the new law violates the Second Amendment.
Likewise, according to MyStateLine, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana, Lee County Sheriff Clayton Whelan and Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle shared the same sentiments. In their statement, they said HB 5471 “is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment.”
ShawLocal.com reported that DeKalb County Sheriff Andy Sullivan, among others, issued a statement drafted by the Illinois Sheriff’s Association.
“As the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official,” Sullivan said, “[I] proclaim that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State, nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding gun individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.”
As it turns out, Illinois is not the only state where sheriffs are fed up with gun control laws pushed by governors. Out in Washington State, where Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee and Attorney General Bob Ferguson are calling for an “assault weapon” ban, the Washington State Sheriff’s Association issued a letter declaring, “We…believe the proposed restrictions will serve to erode constitutionally protected rights without addressing the root causes of violent crime. We are particularly concerned with the proposed so-called ‘assault weapons ban’ and ‘permit to purchase’ laws.
“Restrictions that shift focus from offenders to law-abiding citizens send the wrong message and erode constitutional guarantees upheld by the United States Supreme Court,” the letter adds.
“The Governor’s proposed legislation is also inconsistent with Article 1, Section 24 of the Washington State Constitution, which mirrors the language of the Federal Second Amendment,” the sheriffs say. “The new proposals to restrict gun ownership would further infringe on rights that have been clearly and repeatedly established.”
Pritzker and Illinois Democrats call their new law the “Protect Illinois Communities Act.” County sheriffs now saying they won’t enforce the law’s provisions evidently believe this law’s title is wholly erroneous.
Published reports quote Ogle County’s VanVickle, who observed, “This appears to be another rush to judgment on a bill that was introduced with very little oversight and very little public review.”
Concurring, Stephenson County Sheriff Steve Stovall stated, “There is so many unknowns, it’s another one of those laws that passed that they put unrealistic expectations out there, and there is no way to follow those things up.”
Pearson, at the ISRA offices, told AmmoLand one development in the aftermath of Pritzker’s bill signing is that his organization’s membership numbers are climbing. Every year, ISRA sponsors an event in Springfield, the state capital, that attracts several thousand gun owners. This rally and march are called IGOLD, and Pearson said this year’s event, scheduled March 29, will likely see a record turnout if current emotions continue running high.
As noted by KSDK News, Madison County Sheriff Jeff Connor and Tom Haine, the county’s State’s Attorney, issued a joint statement that noted, “…We expect a strong court challenge to HB 5471 in short order. We trust that this legislative overreach will not stand. In the meantime, we remain focused on reducing violent crime. Therefore, pending further direction by the courts, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office will not expend its limited resources to check whether otherwise law-abiding gun owners have registered their weapons with the State, nor will the Madison County Sheriff’s Office be arresting or housing otherwise law-abiding individuals solely due to non-compliance with HB 5471.”
Writing on Facebook, Stephenson County’s Stovall summed it up: “Let me be clear, this piece of legislation will do nothing to make our communities safer! Criminals don’t follow the laws. That is what makes them criminals. This unconstitutional legislation infringes on our 2nd Amendment Rights, which makes any enforcement of HB5471 contrary to my oath of office.”
Pretty soon, that sentiment will likely be at the heart of ISRA’s promised federal lawsuit.
About Dave Workman
Dave Workman is a senior editor at TheGunMag.com and Liberty Park Press, author of multiple books on the Right to Keep & Bear Arms, and formerly an NRA-certified firearms instructor.
Ironically governor Prickster has no problem picking and choosing which laws he wants to enforce. Especially in terms of Immigration Laws.that cause more crime and damage to Illinois than the forearms choices of law abiding citizens.
criminals all
“Gov. J.B. Pritzker quickly became furious…” Wah, wah, wah… Poor baby. Would a lolly make it feel better?
Try staying within your Constitutional authority ya fat fark.
I congratulate these American, Constitutional believing, supporting Sheriffs and their Deputies!!!!!!
The Illinois State Police can’t even take the illegal firearms from criminals. What makes them believe they can accomplish it from law abiding citizens? Who are now considered criminals. If they don’t abide by this UnConstitutional Law.
They know they can’t take them – they expect “law abiding” citizens to given them up so they do no become criminals by stroke of a fat prick’s pen. The issue is, many of us don’t mind being branded as criminals and will reciprocate by focusing all our attention on these shitbags. They don’t fear criminals, but they will fear us. They deserve it.
New York citizens are estimated to have responded to a new state law”banning ” so called “assault weapons” with a compliance rate of just under three percent. NEW YORK only got three percent. do the givernators of states like Illinoism New Jersey, Caifornia, Oregon, Washingtin, really think they have discovered the Madjuck Sause to get even thirty percent compliance? Hah Australia nor New Zealand have gotten anywhere near full compliance with their firearms bans and manded surrenders. Trudeau up nortth is deluded enough to think HE will get something approaching full compliance.What he fails to realise is that he could… Read more »
.50 cal…
Because so many mass murders and robberies could have been stopped if there wasn’t access to .50 cal. Right?
I believe they are more concerned with the reach out & touch you effect it has on them. More than the citizenry. Their tyrannical rule can end real quick. I seem to remember a couple shooters in DC using a 5.56 to wreck havoc on citizens. Why is it the crazies, never seem to get the objectives right ?
God bless the Sheriffs of Illinois!
Most sherriffs patrol rural areas and hold values of those people , city cops are just that, city cops and they live and act and think like city people .
The libtards know. That’s why there’s a concerted effort by the dimocRAT party in my state and probably every other state too, to convince the voters to allow the county government to appoint sheriffs. They were successful in King County Washington, Pugetopolis the home of Seattle, to get the majority voters to reject electing their sheriff in 2020 and boy did the county government pick a sock puppet. https://ballotpedia.org/King_County,_Washington,_Charter_Amendment_5,_Return_Sheriff_to_an_Appointed_Position_Measure_(2020) They continue. The following link is a must read, it shows you how serious this issue of controlling sheriff’s are to the dimocRAT leadership. This is coming to your county, Ammoland… Read more »
I guess this makes all of these Sheriff’s “Oath Keepers”! I may be wrong, but I don’t think the federal government has much use for these kinds of people!
This new law is brought to the citizens of Illinois by the same idiots who want no cash bai,l just like New York let the criminals out of jail before the report is written by the cops
We have seen how that works.
No wonder Illinois was #2 for people leaving the state. Only bested by NJ.
The problem with that is.. they’re coming to your state and will be voting blue down the ballot.
Be sure to reach out and thank them.
This is going to take a SCOTUS decision to overturn. Why must we take each infringement to SCOTUS one at a time? Doesn’t overturning an unconstitutional law in one state also apply to the other states?
Anyone else remember Federal Marshalls being sent to Montgomery Alabama to FORCE Governor George Wallace to let the schools be ntegrated, at gunpoint, after a SCOTUS ruling that segregation was not legal under the US Cnstitution> WHY are not Fed agents being sent to California, Oregon, Washington, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, to prevent enforcement of unconstitutional antigun laws?
Would that we in Maryland should have Sheriffs who would ABIDE with their SWORN OATH of OFFICE! Alas, Maryland is controlled by staunch DemoKKKrat communists who appear to want a HORRENDOUS socialist country!
If he didn’t make STUPID laws (unconstitutional to boot) he would NOT have a problem, but he’s a Dem so……
I wonder how this leftist punk governor plans to fire these great sheriffs if he has no authority to do so. The people of this state must be very proud of these true patriots!
Never, ever stay in anything Hyatt.
Laws like this is one of the big reasons we bought a home in TN and will be moving there permanently in a couple of months, taking our 4 Republican voters with us. I grew up in IL and lived there my entire life, but over the past 30 years the state has gone downhill. The level of corruption in IL that is reported is true–in fact, I think it is often understated. I’ve had a lucrative career and there is no way I’m going to spend that money in a corrupt, broken state. I know 2 other families that… Read more »
this being a few sheriffs in one state and mention of a couple in another is not a reason to jump on the blue line wagon so quickly. there are many leo’s across the country that ignore firearms laws thereby violating a persons civil rights just because they possess a firearm, legally. if these progressive governors would stop the criminals from using firearms then law-abiding citizens have to possess and carry their own protection. but we know that isn’t going to happen, so let’s deal with reality. the unalienable right to protect myself and others to do the same is… Read more »
IL has just over 100 counties. At this point about 85% of them have pledged to ignore the illegal law. Just wanted to point out that the vast majority of sheriffs here in IL will not enforce the law.
I would argue that the vast majority will selectively enforce the law and use it as another tool in the tool box
Soooooooo……….should I assume the down voters believe the police will NOT enforce unconstitutional gun laws selectively or rigidly? You think most cops will let you walk with your gun, no harm, no foul? Not confiscate it? Will refuse to be a party to red flag laws?
Please splain. Show your work.
Your faith is alarming.
I’ve been asking those questions for years and have yet to get an answer. I don’t understand how these people can see that every single other arms law on the books gets enforced and still think those enforcers are on the side of the 2A.
BLUE LINE WAGON…? These Sheriffs put their own livelihoods up for this. That’s more to say than others….. I know two Sheriffs personally and they are SOLID individuals. It appears in the eyes of many they do more for the 2nd than some half ass thought out commentary.
Having been in that group for many years, I can tell you that most, but certainly not all, police officers support the second amendment, if only because they’re smart enough to know they won’t always be LE. The heads of agencies are, by and large, politician types, and will say whatever is convenient and expedient. They figure as minor rulers, they’ll always have protection available, and screw us.
The whole issue is NOT about crime etc..The 2nd Amendment wasn’t about “crime” – it was written to assure the citizens of our new Republic that they could maintain the means to defend themselves, their communities and the fledgling nation against tyranny from their own government entities – or defend against foreigners. Not many people know that our “Revolution did not “end” in 1791 or 1792 but continued up until and past the War of 1812. That’s why this new crop of Tyrannical Socialist/Marxist scumbags want to end our Bill of Rights. They never cared about crime – they want… Read more »
Overwhelming #RESISTANCE: 80+ Sheriffs Tell Illinois Gov. Pritzker They Won’t Enforce His Gun Control Law
I give the sheriffs of these states a small hand of applause. A small hand because these are not the first infringements, by any means, and, before now, when they see the sentiment of both the people and SCOTUS is pro gun, they didn’t stand up to the dictators. They should have done this with such things as the “firearms owners card.”
5 U.S. Code § 3331 – Oath of office. An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion;” Guess they don’t know what “support and defend” the US Constitution and “bear true faith and allegiance to… Read more »
Well… I mean, I wouldn’t say these (and the others we’ve heard about) handful of different sheriff’s are the majority of L.E… Yes, actually; the sheriff office is the highest law in the land…”actually”. They can “afford” to do the right thing…. Think about how many “local” law enforcement agents there are, in any given large city, compared to the handful of sheriff’s we’ve seen. No, no; there’s no shortage of little pricks lining up to get behind this. …just like I always used to say, “that 19yr old up there in that turret doesn’t care what country he’s in,… Read more »
I don’t know. I use Safari and I have been trying to migrate to Duck Duck Go, but moving all of my bookmarks and other embedded stuff is taking longer than I expected. Safari doesn’t block anything. They do track everything just like the rest.
Sounds like your researching a state that is not communist controlled to move to ! Good luck , arm up and carry on
I’m with you. We live in the two best outdoor activities state in the nation, seriously. Where else in America can you go shoot a Grouse for breakfast, go snow ski before noon, fish for lunch in an alpine lake then drive out to the ocean before dinner to surf, crab or fish before dark?
I don’t understand why the libtards even want to be here. Rid America of the lib cancer and Oregon & Washington would be the closest thing to Heaven on Earth.
Agreed!
Government agencies requiring you to use facebook, twitter and have a cell phone
gummit cannot FORCE me to use anythong like these services.
I hve never used the Twit, have not used the Book in three years, I do have a cell phone but only use that for calls texts, weather and sometimes to locate an address. Nothing more. No apps, no tracking, none of that.
If you have a smartphone on your person, whether it’s turned on or not, you are being tracked…period. There’s only two ways of preventing your smartphone from tracking your every move. Leave it at home or remove the battery.
Removing the battery isn’t as easy as it used to be. The digital age has allowed the tyrants to bypass centuries of established civil rights. We need to reclaim all of the rights lost to the digital tyrants by us not exercising our inalienable rights at the time.
Thanks, I didn’t know about the SIM card and most importantly discharging the stored juice. There’s a National movement afoot of totally frustrated Americans who want to convene a Convention of the States to tinker with the US Constitution. It’s an extremely bad idea considering there’s not a soul in politics today that have one iota of the integrity, honor, common sense, morality and the intelligence of our Founders. However, if they ever get the numbers needed to call the Convention, reclaiming ever single inalienable right we’ve lost to the technological advances should be their main focus, but it won’t… Read more »
Good article Dave.
I think with the Bruen decision more sheriff’s will join the fight. They truly now have(they always did) the ability to restore the Power to the people.
I’m please to see them speaking out and putting it in writing.
the last figure I heard was 87 counties are refusing to enforce tyrant PRIKKSTERS UNCONSTITUTIONAL LAW
Amazing, 87 out of 102 Illinois sheriffs so far are genuine peace officers. I was shocked at that number you posted. I live in Washington and it only has 39 counties. Illinois has 57,915 square miles of landmass. Washington has 71,362 square miles of landmass. You could sit the entire state of Illinois into Washington with room to spare, yet they have over double, almost triple the amount of counties and all the citizen’s life energy to fund that legislative infrastructure. I had no idea that the Illinois State governments were so plentiful. No telling how many more city, town… Read more »
Call or write to those sheriffs and thank them for doing the right thing, for honoring their oath to defend the Constitution and rights of citizens. Call pritzy and tell him you revoke consent to be governed, and strip him of all legal authority. Serve on juries and nullify all the laws that violate the Constitution.
They’re working on something exactly the same here in CO. It was kept under wraps but our Californian nerd gov Polis will undoubtedly have his pen ready as soon as it hits his desk.
Having the county sheriff state that his agency will not enforce these laws is a drop in the bucket of those who could. The greater threat is the local gestapo who are itching to get the law abiding citizen because he is far less likely to get shot from the incident. Until the sheriff states that he will defend the citizen from the enforcement of these laws by federal or local officials, removing his agency from the danger to the citizen is only removing the smallest player from the board and still leaves the citizen defenseless from the greater threat.
The Illinois State Police will do as they’re told. Cop vs cop would be interesting. I’ll buy the popcorn.
Hey, Prick-ster, quit “INFRINGING” or you won’t be in your job. Prick-ster doesn’t get to choose which laws or amendments he follows either. Sadly, it is not the threats of politicians’ actions to be feared. It is the Useful Idiot Free Shit Addicted Government Plantation Dwellers voting for those politicians that worries me.
Hey Prickster why don’t you go eat some more greasy chicken you overweight glob of grease
Unfortunately, too many of them have ditched the constitution and swore allegiance to their paychecks.
LOL!
“…they will in fact do their job or they won’t be in their job,” Pritzker told reporters.
I don’t think Prickzker understand how our Republic works. He has no power or authority to remove/fire any sheriff in his state. That threat alone will only embolden more sheriffs to give him the one finger salute. Tyrants do what they love doing. Sorry Illinois that you’re stuck with such a Prick.zker.
Pritzker should know good and well the courts are going to swat this down, just like every other state that has thumbed their nose at SCOTUS since the Bruen decision.
Governor Prickster and his ilk can’t howl enough.
Section 106 of FOPA makes it against Federal law to establish “any system of registration of firearms, [or] firearms owners”. So courts should immediately find that part of HB 5471 null and void.
We will see how many of them stand firm or fold when their “governors” and legislatures try to make life “uncomfortable” for them. Same in Washington State. Most of our sheriffs have steadfastly REFUSED to enforce the “assault weapon” special rules, the Universal Background Check rule, the new standard capacity ammunition feeding device rules….. I hve heard that in all the years since Bloomburg bought us the Universl Background Check law it has only been ised as a primary charge in one case… one where they KNEW the guy was dirty but the strangth of the case left thngs rather… Read more »
This unconstitutional legislation infringes on our 2nd Amendment Rights, which makes any enforcement of HB5471 contrary to my oath of office.”
Finally SOMEONE in public office called it correctly. EVERY ONE of these Sheriffs should take up this as their rallying cry.
And so should the dirtbag Washington “legislators” pushing Jay’s Pile pf Trash bill.
One can only hope.
Seems I recall reading somewhere sometime ago that all federal law enforcement actions require a beforehand notification to local sheriffs?
Proof is in the pudding as to whether they will uphold their oath. Assuming this law goes into effect, and a citizen calls the sheriff claiming state police or local police is at their home enforcing the law, will the sheriff come and arrest those violating the Constitution?
Don’t you believe it…….the majority will support their paycheck over what’s right
selective enforcement is NOT CONSTITUTIONAL
but “enforcement” of laws that are contrary to the US Constitution and thus are not law at all IS repugnant to the Constitution. Thus such conduct is VERY “constitutional”. In fact to “enforce” “laws” contrary to the Constution IS illegal.REAd that document from to back then read it again.Twice more if need be. READ the Federalist Papers for further inderstanding. Not law, by any means, but clear discussion of the issues of the day.And “gun control”, never forget, is THE ONE issue that triggered the War for Indeendence backi in 1775. READ about that, the events of 19th April 1775.… Read more »
Problem is….this amounts to selective enforcement and a county by county patchwork which is NOT equal protection under the law and NOT CONSTITUTIONAL.
I live in crapifornia, I carry every place, every day. I can not / do not trust law enforcement officers to uphold the constitution.
Sheriffs could put an end to all this gun control crap. NOW! They are the chief law enforcement officer(s) in every county. If sheriffs stood up ON THE RECORD as a group and stated they would not enforce gun control it would be over.
And again…..why would the above be down voted?
seriously wondering?
pay no mind to the downvotes. Most of those are placed by hired trolls trying to manipulate readers in places like this. Pay it no mind. Until the names of the voters are made public the votes will be meaingless. I never even look at the votes on any post. Useless factoids.
Exactly. GMTA.
I am going on record, moderators you can use my handle on every down or up vote, proudly. Posting who up and down votes would make an interesting addition to the public discussion.
Wrong. Sheriffs function primarily in county and rural jurisdictions. Except 95% of the nation dwell in US cities. Which is the blue boy’s domain. There, people live entire lives without any trace of a “Sheriff”. Gullible American’s were gravely disappointed to learn the FBI is in this thing with the leftists. To think the blue boy ticket pushers are different is nonsense. To them, the US2A was designed for police. Not Americans. Once Americans understand this, city police will have much more than a few black criminals itching to catch um’ out of uniform!
You’re wrong, sheriff’s run the jail.
The sheriff is the senior law enforcement officer in EVERY county
And this fact would be downvoted why?
In very rural counties with low populations the role of the county sheriff is much larger as well as cooperative law enforcement efforts. County Sheriff’s very much have skin in the game, especially in very rural counties where the county seat community has a very small population, and the municipal police force is small. Also, the law being discussed is a state law, not a federal law.
In the period of time when that pesky SecondArticle of Ammendment was drafted and ratified, “police’ as we know them today did not exist. Today’s police got their start as railfoad and bank bulls whose job it was to protect the assets of their employers, NOT to generally enforce law and order. Sonce the railroad bulls were armed, many of those riding the rods began to also arm themselves. I never could inderstand WHY it was such a big issue for random individuals to hook rides on trains as they crossed the nation.What harm was done? NONE. The extra weight?… Read more »
Don’t get too excited. These government thugs still enforce every other arms law on the books and they’ll be happy to tack this on as an additional charge when arresting someone for something else. Remember, their oath says not only support but also defend. Unless they’re willing to come to your defense against any other government thug trying to violate your rights then they’re not honoring their oath and if you think they’ll side with you over their own then you’re in for a rude awakening.
If law enforcement officers “took their oath seriously” they would not put on the uniform of a tyrannical state enforcing clearly unconstitutional laws weather per se or selectively. if you wear the nazi uniform, you’re a nazi. period. There were / are no good nazis. spare me the “I wouldn’t confiscate guns” or the “I will not enforce red flag laws” or the precious “ I’m just waiting for my pension to kick in then I’m outta here”…… stop pissing down my back and saying it’s raining. if you are a cop in ca, ma, ny, ct, nj…..you are the… Read more »
The irony of the “wear the Nazi uniform” statement always brings a smile to my face. One man’s Nazi is another man’s patriot and vice-versa.
And again, not to be monitoring closely but I seriously wonder why visitors to this site would disagree / down vote the above comment.
What is mis-stated? Conceptually or otherwise?
Please enlighten me / us.
Thanks
Sheriffs are NOT beholden to the state governments at all.They are ONLY beholden to the people of their own county those who selected them to mind the affairs of that county. I hve known Sheriffs who have stood up to FEDERAL agents of various types when those agents begin minding business in that Sheriff’s County that are not theirs to mind. One I kniw of got way up in th grill of a high ranking fed agent for ticketing citizens for fed regs “violated” , tore up all those tickets, the informed that Fed gent that if he EVER tried… Read more »
No
Yeah sure they do. Take a harder look. Hell they’re still arresting people over Covid mandates & alcohol. Another BS tax stamp. They say they won;t enforce it. At least not until you get arrested for something else. Then the next Sheriff will enforce it wholeheartedly. They been playing this game longer than you have.
nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding gun individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.”
The topic at hand is county sheriffs refusing to enforce gun control laws which they personally believe violate the US Constitution and the fact that by announcing their stance they put their employment, their career, as well as possibly themselves and their families at risk.
The topic at hand was Sheriffs enforcing unconstitutional acts. I suggest you reread Opie comment. That’s a large net he cast. Or maybe your reading comprehension isn’t that great ? Do you really believe this is the game changer ? You are a bigger fool than the Sheriffs are. This is how they sneak these laws in. Watch how fast they use it when you get arrested for another charge.As they stated, ” nor will we be arresting or housing law-abiding gun individuals that have been arrested SOLELY with non-compliance of this Act.” You seem to be shortsighted on how… Read more »