Unconstitutional firearms age restrictions
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By Rob Morse

Judges are political creatures. They know who elected them or who appointed them. They know what they need to do to get promoted. In some cases, judges have overturned unjust laws and restrained the tyranny of the majority, but that doesn’t work all the time.

Abusive politicians have imposed unjust laws and those laws have been upheld by the courts. Honest citizens have often imposed their own justice when the courts refuse to defend our rights. We are seeing that situation play out again with gun owners in Illinois.

Illinois politics are dominated by the city of Chicago. Democrats have controlled the Illinois state senate and general assembly for over two decades. Democrat legislators recently required honest gun owners to register their semi-automatic long guns, almost all of which are now considered “assault weapons.”

The deadline for compliance is January 1, 2024. Registration opened on the first of October, so more than a third or the registration period has passed. So far, though, only 4-out-of-1000 — about 3,400 — of the affected gun owners have registered their rifles and shotguns.

Illinois has a lot of gun-control laws on the books already. Citizens there need to obtain a state license before they can even buy a gun. The required Firearms Owners Identification Card requires a national and local background check. Illinois gun owners now have to pass a background check before they could purchase ammunition. Individuals from outside the state can’t purchase a firearm in Illinois without first obtaining a license and then passing a background check. Historically, obtaining that Firearms Owners Identification card took months or years.

Image courtesy Illinois State Police

Perhaps gun owners in Illinois aren’t aware of the new registration requirement. Perhaps gun owners know about the new law but don’t know that their particular firearms are affected. Perhaps they’ll all register at the last minute and comply with the law. And perhaps pigs sprout wings and fly with the sparrows and the doves.

That isn’t what we’ve seen in other states and municipalities that have mandated registration. San Jose, California required that gun owners turn in all of their regulated magazines. Connecticut required registration of so-called “assault weapons.” The state of New Jersey outlawed a type of brace that let injured individuals shoot a pistol even if they’re disabled.

Those gun-bans were ignored, and not just a little bit. In some cases no one complied. In most cases, only a tiny fraction complied so disobedience was almost total. In some cases, even the vast majority of law enforcement officers ignored the registration laws.

These gun registrations and gun bans have had a mixed history in court. There are a number of districts that consistently ignore the rulings of the US Supreme Court when it comes to the right to bear arms. Recently, we’ve seen cases where the Supreme Court ruled that lower courts made a mistake in a Second Amendment case. Some of the lower courts then effectively refused to change their verdict. Those judges in inferior courts effectively said, “Catch me if you can,” to higher courts. Those judges are a law unto themselves.

As I said, judges respond to the politics of their donors and the politicians who appoint them. These judges are willing to bend the law to advance their own careers or advance their personal agendas. Honest citizens have, so far, responded with remarkable restraint. So far, where judges have abused the law and denied our rights, we’ve seen ordinary citizens simply ignore the abusive laws.

Honest citizens vastly outnumber the government officials who like to tell them what they can and cannot do. We tend to simply ignored the abusive laws that judges refuse to overturn.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (AP Photo/John O’Connor, File)

We can argue if that undermines the rule of law, but there are other options. We have seen courts appoint special masters to supervise an administrative government body that refused to obey the law. We saw that happen with school administrators who refused to allow black children in public schools. We saw that again with police departments that systematically abused minority citizens.

We’ve yet to see direct judicial intervention with states and localities that violate our right of armbed self-defense. Even though we don’t see it covered in the corporate media, this isn’t a marginal legal issue. Armed defense is a fundamental human right that literally saves tens-of-thousands of lives a year. Despite decades of abuse, I doubt the current court has the courage to say ‘enough is enough’ and appoint special masters this time.

We’ve ignored unjust laws before and I have no doubt we’ll continue to do it in the future. I expect history to repeat itself in Illinois. Honest citizens in the Land o’ Lincoln will give the one-finger-salute to blue state legislators that have heaped new gun control laws on honest gun owners.

As much as I’m a law-and-order kind of guy, I’m just fine with that. We don’t always get the choices we want. Often our choices come down to selecting the lesser of two injustices. We will know by the end of the year, but don’t expect a last minute rush to comply as Governor Pritzker says he expects. And I don’t expect that either the state legislators nor the courts will learn their lesson.

 

This article originally appeared at Slow Facts Blog and is reprinted here with permission. 

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47 COMMENTS

    • Hey Booger there’s NO GUARANTEE the ersatz Cali Key(200 bucks MORE!!!)will pass muster with the ILLannoy state goons! I just packed up my verboten magazines & they’re going to my Indiana buddy. At the end of December my MSR will follow. Or not. I’ll be 70 in 6 months & don’t need the BS.I have plenty of firepower irregardless🙄

      • the ban is for semi-auto rifles. This bolt makes it not semi-auto but manual bolt operated (via the charging handle). At least according to legal research by that lawyer he mentions, based upon how the law is written to only designate semi-auto, using this would mean the rifle is not semi-auto. Works or not?

        So basically you are going to comply by divesting your self of your rifle? I understand but if the patriots had done that at Concord tea and crumpets would be a national pass time at here today.

        • The tyrants in ILLinois don’t care about legal opinions. They would probably use the “readily convertible” bit in the “law” to consider these modified AR’s illegal. I mean, if they are good with having judges bribed via “campaign contributions” rule on this, what’s the harm in a little “verbiage adjustment”?

      • you were right the second time. let him at pelosi’s ice cream freezer and problem solved. his mansion on astor is between the chicago river and lake michigan…

    • This bill GOSAFE will send HK 91, 93 and Cetme values through the roof; they’re NOT gas operated so they will remain legal.

    • In case no one has noticed, the term ‘gas operated’ is an exploitable term for anti-gun. In reality all firearms, semi-auto or not, AR or not revolver or not, all firearms that fire a bullet by use of an ‘explosion’ (e.g. the round being fired) are ‘gas operated’ because its the gasses that propel the bullet/projectile out of the barrel causing the gun to operate for its function thus ‘gas operated’ term exploited. They will not stop at just ‘gas operated’ semi-autos.

      • Most pellet guns and paintball will be banned too, CO2 is a “Gas” And, add the word “briefly” to the end of my comment above.

  3. Our glorious leader Joe Biden tried to warn us about mixing schools. He’s going to finish the job and make sure none of our children have to go to a “jungle” school.

  7. MAJOR BREAKING 2A SCOTUS NEWS! JUSTICE BARRETT ISSUES ORDER TODAY IN “ASSAULT WEAPONS” BAN CASE…

    • So basically the Supreme Court waits until someone dies due to the lower courts stupidity before they take action. Fucking Awesome! Certain politicians and certain judges need to die in molten sulfur, not all some.

    • time to repel the invaders, starting with the left wing communist sitting in congress and the white house. vote that threat to our republic out of office.

      😁

  9. There are rumblings , unverified but likely true, that next year Illinois will have a Bill to remove the grandfather clause and make these firearms verboten regardless if “registered “.

    • Its already in progress, bills being drafted and to include ‘forced’ confiscation of those registered and others as discovered. Unless SCOTUS acts to stop this, fat boy governor will end up literally killing innocent citizens (the gun owners, and their family members) or getting state police or his national guard troops killed and when that happens he will blame it on ‘gun violence’ and claim the gun owners were violent felons as his excuse. These idiots do not realize that at some point gun owners will fight back and start pulling triggers to repel this tyranny and these unconstitutional actions.

      • “These idiots do not realize that at some point gun owners will fight back and start pulling triggers to repel this tyranny and these unconstitutional actions.”

        Waco, Ruby Ridge, Bundy 1&2, Covid Lockdown, say different.

  10. The title of this article says it all. And NO gun alterations to appease nazi democRats, they can take their tyranny and shove it.

  13. There’s always British Style Straight-Pull ARs for smurfflands.

    They are nearly as fast shooting as semis, look at videos of “well-regulated” Limeys blasting away with them. Ditch the gas tube, plug the gas block, replace gas key with handle & cut slot for handle.

  15. If I could get the right construction company and a bunch of cement I could make the pond bigger and itd be Lake Chicago.
    It’s the opposite of what God fried. First the Sacred Cow tried fire, now it’s time for water.
    Does a Gluck go glub glub if it’s full auto?

  18. Why Is Democrat Gun Ownership At An All-Time High? (note: for some reason youtube has this video from Colion Noir ‘age restricted’ so you will need to sign into youtube to see it. However, its a video interview with colion on fox news. I guess youtube is afraid kids might be informed and get some actual truth as to the false narrative being pushed by the anti-gun agenda to take away their inherent inalienable constitutional rights and their rightful heritage of our Constitution and a free republic, they inherent now as their own individually and will rightfully exercise as they come of age. You tube is afraid to let the kids know the truth about the tyranny that seeks to destroy the freedom of their future.).

    • In the above video a point is bought out about Chicago: ~1,400 repeat criminal offenders are committing over 90% of the crime (violent and otherwise, including those with guns) in Chicago. They are ‘continually’ being caught and released to go out and re-offend.

      In short, the crime problem in Chicago is not a gun problem but rather a criminal problem caused by offenders not being kept incarcerated or in other words a left wing ‘progressive’ policy actually causing crime and death and harm directly. The Democrat party, the party of death and harm and crime by ‘progressive’ policy.

    • Democrats try to redefine first amendment – starting at 7:34 in video (note: in other words another democrat attack on the constitution coming. Its all about control.)

      • The truth gun nuts don’t want to accept is that the First applies only to legitimate speech; the ruling elites determine legitimacy, but a guideline is speech that does not offend anyone.

        You just gotta get c’her mind right.

  20. “Individuals from outside the state can’t purchase a firearm in Illinois without first obtaining a license and then passing a background check.”

    To the information I just received from an Illinoistan auction house, that is not correct. They told me – 3day waiting period after purchase. Long gun can walk in & pay/4473/background check and receive. Handguns must pay and will be shipped to FFL in your state of residence for whatever transfer process may be there. F Illinois

  21. When the penalties are draconian enough the sheep obey for their own self-preservation and of course their pocketbooks. Increasing penalties for noncompliance works every time, History has proven it.

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