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Illinois House Passes Firearms Restraining Order
We passed a “Firearms Restraining Order” bill in the Illinois House Wednesday. I spent a lot of time on this bill, and have written about it on my blog. I believe it strikes a balance between preserving civil liberties and Second Amendment rights with the responsibility we have to protect public safety. Here are my initial floor comments on the bill:
While we were debating the bill, the NRA, which for weeks had maintained a neutral stance on the bill, came out in opposition to it, primarily because of its provision for an ex-parte order. I was given the opportunity to expand my comments to address the change of stance:
The bill now goes to the Senate, and if passed, on to the Governor for signature.
Published in Guns
Well-done, Chief!
Congratulations! If it passes, other states will get to see how well it works in implementation.
If it works well, it will be copied. If any abuses of law-abiding firearm owners occur, similar bills in other states would probably not pass without modifying those things found to be abusive.
So just suspecting the information is false is OK. So is incomplete and misleading information.
This is one of the things which will be monitored closely. Will liberal family members use the new law to “punish” the gun owners (liberal or conservative) in the family.
Let’s say liberal old uncle George doesn’t like the idea his nephew bought a gun for the nephew’s 21 year old son, and wants to stick it to his nephew. He might claim the nephew’s son “brandished” the gun in his presence, threatening him. The police swoop in, take the gun away. Later, it’s discovered no such thing happened, and the son gets his gun back.
Will it be “no harm no foul?”, or will the uncle be prosecuted either for intentionally lying (hard to prove), or for negligence?
Maybe it’s a bad example, my not knowing the details of this law. However, as in divorce cases, people will say things intentionally false and not be prosecuted for it. A lawyer friend of mine explained judges know emotions can run high in divorce cases, so leeway is given to those involved, even if they perjure themselves. I’m still trying to resolve the conflict in my mind.
FIFY
I’m pretty sure one aspect of “universal background checks” is you must make any firearms transfer through a person with a Federal Firearms License. This would make any purchase or even gift significantly more difficult, and would do nothing to prevent whackos and criminals from getting guns . . .
Apparently, but one needs to be absolute in the drafting.
No. And no again.
It’s already far too easy and prevalent for a family member to lie about an assault or danger for retribution or just plain meanness.
You are no protector of civil rights and your claim to be protecting rights is disingenuous.
So, in an ex parte hearing a complainant can tell whatever story they want to tell without the victim being even informed, let alone offering a counter argument and all of his firearms will be seized.
And just how long will it take for an innocent and harmless individual to get return of his property seized in such a manner? He’ll have to hire an attorney. Poor people can own no firearms after this abortion of a law. Even after expending enormous sums on an attorney, we have seen that obstinate police forces avoid returning property, not even guns, for years on end even after a court order.
I think this is a horrible law, and anyone associated with it is not so blind to know of these effects. This is a disarmament program for the poor, which will equate to minorities. This is another example of the government making a law to purposefully target a disfavored population, much like anti-marijuana laws targeted Mexicans, gun control laws originally targeted blacks, etc.
For shame.
Geez, and I just noticed that it allows any police officer to be the petitioner.
That is outrageous!! So the government could, conceivably, file a petition for an ex parte hearing on every known gun owner in the entire state on the same day and after a cursory hearing and a sympathetic judge, they can begin the confiscation of every firearm in the state.
You must be so proud. This is Red Queen material. “Sentence first, verdict afterwards.”
My uncle was a chief of police in Harwood Heights decades ago. I’ll bet he’s spinning in his grave at the idea. Or, I hope he is.
Although it makes you feel good to say that, you are wrong. This law, like essentially all gun control, is directed against the middle class. People who: (1) have not done anything wrong; (2) can’t afford to fight; (3) have a lot to lose and thus are willing to plea.
They will never return the guns. Even if the order expires and the government cooperates, the obligation is on the owner to retrieve. As a practical matter, they will likely just destroy them and force you to file a claim where they will pay you ten cents on the dollar and then charge you twice as much as a storage fee.
I don’t think I can disagree except that our perspectives should be joined by an “and” rather than an “or.”
I’m still steamed.
I think of how the communist governor of Virginia tried to pardon tens of thousands of people over night with a blanket pardon letter. A Court tossed it out, so he made a separate pardon letter for all those convicts. That was to get voters. Can you imagine an Illinois governor or mayor doing the same thing to draft ex parte petitions for every gun owner in their jurisdiction? I can. All he’d have to say is “Rep. Rieck agrees that we need to protect the children of our state/county/city from all the guns in the state” and get some police chief to sign the affidavits and put it in front of a sycophantic magistrate.
I will not be surprised one bit if it happens. We’re not in 1981 anymore. We have a poisonous and extremely corrupt political system right now, and Illinois is one of the leaders in that category.
From my cold dead hands.