The Illinois Budget: A Parable

You are subsidizing your child.  Each month you give them money for food, rent, and necessities.  Your child, instead of spending all the money on what they're supposed to, spends a big chunk on hookers and blow, putting the difference on credit cards.

After awhile, your child comes to you and admits they spent a bit more than the were supposed to and asks if they can have a bit more money to cover the credit card bills and expenses.  You agree. They then go out and spend that money on more hookers and blow, throwing parties for their friends.

This cycle continues until the child's credit cards are all maxed out, the companies are threatening legal action, they're about to get thrown out of their apartment, and yet the child STILL is spending what they get on hookers and blow instead of food, rent, etc. because the parties are so popular with their friends.

Do you continue to give the child more and more money thinking they'll suddenly be responsible with it and at the cost of your own livelihood or do you cut them off as much as possible until they PROVE they're responsible?

This is the question facing Illinois in a nutshell.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Two Political Groups. Which Do You Want To Support?

A:

“At the very end of December, on the eve of New Years Eve, they tried to sneak the regulations past the public through the administrative process, with no public input whatsoever. When they found out they weren’t going to be able to get away with that they pulled them back,”

or B:

“The ...legislature specifically passed a law to say that ... Department of Justice does not have to go through the rigmarole of public comment and red tape every time they want to develop regulations..."

One group wanting to hold politicians and un-elected bureaucrats accountable to the people. One wanting to give them free reign and showing absolute contempt for the 'public'.

Can you guess which is which?

Full article here. 

Springfield Armory Statement on Dealer Licensing Bill UPDATE

Springfield Armory has always fought hand-in-hand with the NRA, NSSF, ISRA and many others for legislation that fiercely protects the Second Amendment, individual rights and the industry as a whole. Our fight continues today as some members of the Illinois legislature are pushing to overregulate the industry through Gun Dealer Licensing Act (SB1657). 
“At the time of my initial statement to the media, I was ill-informed of the ramifications of this bill and its detrimental effects to the Second Amendment, which I have personally fought to protect my entire life. I can tell you now, we at Springfield Armory are unequivocally 100 percent against this bill and will continue to work with the NRA and others to ensure that it is defeated,” said Dennis Reese, Chief Executive Officer, Springfield Armory.
Springfield Armory, like Rock River Arms, was not aware of the actions taken by our trade association, IFMA, until after the fact. We take this situation very seriously and are looking into how this very unfortunate lapse in communication occurred.
Springfield Armory has fought and defeated legislation like this in Illinois for the past 15 years. We are wholeheartedly against this bill and will fight to see it defeated as the unnecessary and harmful overreach that it is.

---

Stefany Reese, PR & Communications Manager
Springfield Armory, Inc.
stefanyr@springfield-armory.com309-944-8994

Hopefully the dumbass in charge of the IFMA loses his job/funding over this.

UPDATE: RRA release available here. Says about the same thing.

A Modest Proposal

In Illinois everything is taxed, licensed, fee-ed, etc.... That is except legislators.  This should change.  Here is my proposal.

$1,000 fee on every bill or resolution introduced.
$500 fee on every amendment added.
$100 fee on every sponsor.
$50 fee on every co-sponsor.

An argument I heard in favor of state licensing for firearm dealers is that hairdressers, construction workers, pretty much every other profession, is licensed.

So why shouldn't legislators?

They should have testing in Federal and State Constitutional issues, public safety, education, and every topic they propose legislation on.  Each additional topic can be added as an endorsement and the legislator can then propose legislation on that topic.

Of course fees would be required to obtain the license and endorsements.

Revenue generated from these fees will be used for schools in the legislator's district.

Obviously any politician who would oppose this proposal is against the education of children.

QOTD: Illinois Carry

So Rep. Robyn Kelly, is going to attend a meeting about 'gun control'.  This is the one who had her seat bought for her by Mike Bloomberg to the tune of $2.2m.

Love this description of what will happen over on IllinoisCarry:

I've seen the Robin Kelly machine in action.
She will arrive late.If WLOWV is smart, they will have a dancing bear or some bleeding heart to keep the troops entertained until her arrival.
When she shows up,She will proclaim how the NRA does not like her, and calls her a gun grabber.
She will next say that she does not like being called a gun grabber.She will then offer her gun credentials, which is her granpappy had a gun under the counter in the family grocery store in Harlem, and she has seen this gun.
After that, she will announce her common sense plan for grabbing your guns.
She will leave early, before taking any questions.

Sounds about right.

Call to Action: IL Gun Bills Witness Slips

Call to Action

Witness Slips Needed

Witness Slip Instructions

With the 100th General Assembly almost in full swing, the coming week brings several threats to our Second Amendment rights and the hope of advancing those rights, with your help.

Brush off the dust from your keyboards, find those old passwords, and let our legislators know that we remain unified in our support of the Second Amendment!

File Witness Slips Now!

Log on to the ILGA Dashboard, Create a New Account, or complete the required fields manually:

I, IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter "NA" for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.

II. REPRESENTATION: Enter "Myself" unless representing an organization.

III. POSITION: Unless instructed otherwise for a particular bill leave the description field at its default value "Original Bill". Indicate your position by selecting the "Proponent" or "Opponent" radio button.

IV. TESTIMONY: Select the "Record of Appearance Only" radio button.

If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.

Then click Create Slip.

Oppose

HB271 Handgun Ammo Serialize - OPPONENT

HB329 Concealed Carry Prohibit Place - OPPONENT

HB504 FOID Card Terrorist Watchlist - OPPONENT

HB521 Lost & Stolen Firearms Penalty - OPPONENT

Support

HB308 Firearm Transport – PROPONENT

HB365 Firearms Military Non-Resident – PROPONENT

HB377 Concealed Carry Bus License - PROPONENT

HB413 2nd Amendment Preservation – PROPONENT

Witness slips can be tracked here:

HB271 Handgun Ammo Serialize – OPPONENT

HB308 Firearm Transport – PROPONENT

HB329 Concealed Carry Prohibit Place – OPPONENT

HB365 Firearms Military Non-Resident – PROPONENT

HB377 Concealed Carry Business License - PROPONENT

HB413 2nd Amendment Preservation – PROPONENT

HB504 FOID Card Terrorist Watchlist - OPPONENT

HB521 Lost & Stolen Firearms Penalty – OPPONENT

Illinois Hearing Protection Act Witness Slips UPDATE

Update 2: Slip entries closed for the nonce.  It has been noted that there are more than a few multiple entries under the 'opposed' tab.  I saw one person w/ four alone. 

Update:  Hearing was cancelled. Guessing things are going on behind the scenes.  Keep the witness slips going.  Various anti groups are putting out their own alerts. Most of theirs are reported to be from out of state. 

From the ISRA :

Witness Slips Needed - Support SB50

Witness Slips Needed

SB50, the Suppressor Bill, has been posted for Criminal Law Committee on Wednesday, January 25, 2017, at 9:00am, in Room 400.

SUPPORT SB50

Log on to the ILGA Dashboard at my.ilga.gov

Click on "Senate", click on "Committee Hearings"

Under the Scheduled Senate Committee Hearings, click on "Week"

Click on the "Criminal Law" button (under view hearing details)

Click on the Create Witness Slip Button

I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter "NA" for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.

II. REPRESENTATION: Enter "Myself" unless representing an organization.

III. POSITION: Unless instructed otherwise for a particular bill leave the description field at its default value "Original Bill". Indicate your position by selecting the "Proponent" or "Opponent" radio button.  Please select the "Proponent" button for SB50.

IV. TESTIMONY: Select the "Record of Appearance Only" radio button.

If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.

Then click Create Slip.

More IL Anti-Gun Nonsense Bills

Witness Slips and Phone Calls Needed

Oppose HB1016 & HB6615

 

At the end of the 2016 Spring Session, Representative Kathleen Willis filed Amendment 7 to HB1016 Firearm Dealer Licensing and positioned the bill to move through the House at a moment's notice. Last week, the House Rules Committee re-approved the bill to be considered in floor debate. It now stands at 2nd reading and can move quickly if the sponsor feels she has enough votes. In addition to this, Amendment 8 has been filed, giving the sponsor two ways she can close gun stores in Illinois.

Make no mistake, this bill is about shuttering gun stores through fees and excessive regulation. Regardless of the number of times Ms. Willis tries to force this bill through the legislature, it remains bad law and we continue to oppose it.

We ask that you call your State Representative immediately to voice your opposition to HB1016 in all its forms. This bill can be debated as early as November 29, 2016 so please make your calls Monday, November 28.

Click here for contact information, or here to search for your State Representative.


In addition to HB1016, HB6615 Crim Cd Handgun Ammo Serialize is again scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary Committee the afternoon of November 29, 2016. This bill, proposing a requirement to encode bullets and shells during the manufacturing process, was the subject of a Call to Action two weeks ago. Your efforts successfully kept it in committee then, and we ask that you help it stay in committee now by voicing your opposition directly to your State Representative, and by filing witness slips.

 

Please file slips opposing HB6615 now!

Log on to the ILGA Dashboard, Create a New Account, or complete the required fields manually:

I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter "NA" for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.

II. REPRESENTATION: Enter "Myself" unless representing an organization.

III. POSITION: Unless instructed otherwise for a particular bill leave the description field at its default value "Original Bill". Indicate your position by selecting the "Opponent" radio button.

IV. TESTIMONY: Select the "Record of Appearance Only" radio button.

If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.

Then click Create Slip.

Oppose

HB6615 - Handgun Ammo Serialize - OPPOSE


Witness slips can be tracked here


The Fall Session can be a time of frustration and surprise. Be on the look out for further Calls to Action as we monitor events closely over the next week.

As always, IllinoisCarry encourages you to follow our forum for the latest discussion and updates.

Who Supports Ammo Serialization Laws?

Why the owner of the company that would profit from the mandates of course. 

Hmmm.  Ammo Coding Systems.  A non-IL company.  Lets take a look at some tidbits from their 'fact sheet' on how 'reasonable' this idea is:

Implementation of the ACS Technology

The implementation of the ACS technology will require legislation to establish an ammunition sale database. In those states that have already developed and implemented bar-coding systems that include driver’s licenses and other forms of identification, the integration of a database system to record ammunition sales will be relatively simple and inexpensive to implement.

So registration, more licensing, and taxes/fees. 

What are the costs to manufacturers?

There are several well known manufacturers currently producing a significant portion of the current commercially available ammunition in the United States. Each ammunition producer would be required to purchase at least one, if not more, laser engraving machines and ammunition material handlers to produce ACS coded ammunition. There are several manufacturers who can design and build this equipment. Reliable estimates for a complete set of engraving/material handling equipment range from $300,000 to $500,000 each. A licensing fee for each bullet sold would also be required. However, since approximately 10 billion bullets are sold in the United States alone each year, equipment costs, once amortized over the number of bullets produced and sold are not significant.

So the complete redesign of manufacturing facilities and millions of dollars in expenses both initial and long-term, all which will either put the company out of business or be passed onto consumers. Which they admit. There's also the bit about 'licensing fee' which can be withdrawn arbitrarily.

What is the impact on retailers and consumers?

Ammunition retailers will also have some minor administrative costs. These costs, like other costs associated with doing business will most likely be passed onto the retailer purchaser. We estimate that the entire ACS process can be implemented without dramatically increasing the purchase price to the end user while maintaining an effective crime fighting system paid for almost exclusively by user fees.

And if you like your healthcare, you can keep it.

Here's another clincher:

How many unique codes are available?

There are 91 unique characters on a standard computer keyboard. The ACS technology uses these characters in five, six, or seven columns. Typically, ammunition comes in boxes of either 50 or 20, and all bullets in a box will be coded alike. There are 12 common handgun and assault weapon calibers. This means that ACS can accommodate over 21 quadrillion unique bullet codes. Since it is estimated that there are approximately 10 billion bullets sold annually in the United States, and 20-30 billion bullets sold worldwide annually, the ACS has the capacity to keep pace with the current rate of sales for decades to come.

Kind of a giveaway as to their real goals, isn't it?  What about the 'uncommon' calibers or those not regularly made in the US?  Oh Right.

This isn't about 'safety' or 'crime', this is about making it nearly impossible for law abiding citizens to get ammo and to put the companies out of business if they try to comply.

Illinois Bill: HB6615 Handgun Ammo Serialization

Call to Action - Oppose: HB6615 Handgun Ammo Serialize

 

Call to Action

 

Oppose: HB6615 Handgun Ammo Serialize

 

On October 17, 2016, Representative Sonya Harper filed HB6615 Crim Cd Handgun Ammo Serialize, a bill requiring ammunition components to be marked with a unique code that will be registered to the end user.

 

This bill is scheduled to be heard in committee the afternoon of November 15, 2016.

 

Since 2005 at least 31 similar bills have been filed in 18 states, none of them having been passed into law because the concept cannot be integrated into existing production lines safely or in a cost effective manner. Illinois' own legislature wisely declined to embrace its own share of these bills, most recently in 2008.

 

Though the bill does not specify the manner of marking bullets and shells, leaving those problems for others to solve, the most commonly mentioned method is via laser etching. In fact, one of the founders of the company behind this concept, Ammunition Coding Systems (ACS), mentioned laser etching as the method he envisions in a February 28, 2008 interview. Neither the sponsor nor ACS has given any obvious thought to the potentially disastrous results of introducing a laser into an environment filled with explosive ammunition primers and highly inflammable propellants.

 

Both Representative Harper and ACS seem equally unaware of the current manufacturing method of randomly mating bullet to shell casing from bulk material hoppers, a process actually illustrated by an ACS Power Point and supplied to DNAInfo.  Randomized components, of course, cannot be mated to each other in ways creating a match.

 

> HB6616 requires ISP to develop manufacturing methods and standards far outside its area of expertise. Acceptable tolerances for inevitable error, and methods of measuring such error, are left to the imagination.

 

> The bill's language inverts normal logic. Rather than offering existing technology as a solution to a problem, it assumes that the existence of certain tools defines the entirety of the solution. In reality, it establishes a mandate to create a technology for an application with no evidence that such technology actually can be created. In so doing, it establishes a "prove me wrong" precedent that should not replace our existing legislative processes.

 

> Manufacturing experts agree that the most reliable mating of matched components occurs closest to the point at which they are mated. Achieving this level of reliability requires the use of a laser dangerously close to highly inflammable smokeless powders and explosive primers.

 

> Re-manufactured ammunition, where casings are reused to reduce costs, will result in shells being coded at least twice with non-matching numbers, and possibly three or more times

 

> Mail order and internet ammunition purchases, which are specifically allowed in the FOID Act, will be all but eliminated since out of state vendors have no need to stock coded ammunition

 

> Rounds rejected through quality control will have to be replaced with rounds manually coded & assembled, and inserted by hand into each and every box missing the reject(s). Every human intervention introduces the possibility of additional error and increased costs not currently a part of the manufacturing process.

 

> The estimated $0.02 cost per box of ammunition assumes expenses are amortized over 10 billion rounds or more. Manufacturers will not serialize all ammunition, reducing the amortization factor to a fraction of that projected, resulting in prohibitively large retail price increases.

 

> Manufacturing methods developed by mandate of law and based upon ACS's patent can potentially be subject to use fees and licensing requirements. If ACS chooses to prevent ammunition sales within Illinois, it can do so by simply refusing such licenses.

 

> The bill lacks detail outlining how coding would be accomplished because Ammunition Coding Systems lacks the background to provide such detail.

 

 

File a witness in opposition now!

 

 

Log on to the ILGA Dashboard, Create a New Account, and then click on the link below to access the witness slip.  You may complete the required fields manually without creating an account:

 

I, IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter "NA" for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.

 

II. REPRESENTATION: Enter "Myself" unless representing an organization.

 

III. POSITION: Unless instructed otherwise for a particular bill leave the description field at its default value "Original Bill". Indicate your position by selecting the "Proponent" or "Opponent" radio button.

 

IV. TESTIMONY: Select the "Record of Appearance Only" radio button.

 

If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.

 

Then click Create Slip.

 

 

Oppose

 

HB6615 Handgun Ammo Serialize - Oppose

 

 

Witness Slips can be tracked here.

 

 

 Check out ISRA's website at www.isra.org! Tell us what you think!

 

Follow the ISRA on Twitter and Facebook.