.@NSSF‘s complaint is in the printer We’ll file federal lawsuit to block this unconstitutional law immediately upon signing This won’t make IL or Chicago safer RT Illinois to ban advertising for guns allegedly marketed to kids and militants https://t.co/zE6Qz2tfcM @GovPritzker
— Larry Keane (@lkeane) August 7, 2023
Illinois will soon outlaw advertising for firearms that officials determine produces a public safety threat or appeals to children, militants or others who might later use the weapons illegally, as the state continues its quest to curb mass shootings.
Gun-rights advocates say the plan, which Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pledged to sign into law, is an unreasonably vague decree that violates not only the constitutionally protected right to own guns, but also free speech.
The prime exhibit in Democratic Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s effort is the JR-15, a smaller, lighter version of the AR-15 semi-automatic rifle advertised with the tag line, “Get ’em One Like Yours.” The maker says it is deliberately made smaller, with added safety features, to fit younger shooters as they learn from adults how to safely maneuver such a weapon. Raoul says it’s marketed to children and potentially entices them to skip the adult supervision and start firing. …
Illinois would be the eighth state to approve legislation that allows such lawsuits against firearms manufacturers or distributors. The legislation comes after the deadliest six months of mass killings recorded since at least 2006 — all but one of which involved guns.
Raoul finds precedent in the 25-year-old settlement with large tobacco companies and more recently with advertising for vaping.
“We’ve gone after the marketing that has historically driven up the consumption by minors for those products that are harmful to them,” Raoul said. “The firearms industry shouldn’t be immune to the standards that we put on other industries.”
Except that other industries don’t produce constitutionally protected products, counters the National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade association that has filed federal lawsuits in nearly every state that has approved a similar law.
“They’re infringing on your Second Amendment rights by taking away your First Amendment rights,” foundation spokesperson Mark Oliva said.