What’s Behind the Lack of Compliance With Illinois Gun Registration Mandate?

Yesterday we covered the latest figures on registered “assault weapons” released by the Illinois State Police, which shows a continued and widespread non-compliance with the Protect Illinois Communities Act. We’re following up that post on today’s Bearing Arms Cam & Co with Dan Eldridge, the owner of Maxon Shooter’s Supplies and Indoor Range in Des Plaines, Illinois. Dan’s been taking a look at the newest data as well, and has plenty to say about the lack of affidavits filed with the Illinois State Police both ahead of and after the January 1 deadline.

According to his calculations, if roughly 1-in-5 Illinois gun owners possess one of the now-banned firearms, then less than 5 percent of them have complied with the state’s requirement that they submit an affidavit to that effect with the Illinois State Police. Eldridge says there’s certainly civil disobedience taking place, but he believes some of the non-compliance stems from uncertainty and ignorance about the law.

“The state police produced a number of documents that are supposed to guide people through the process; should this be registered, should this not be registered. But it’s incomplete and full of flaws,” Eldridge explained.

“They also didn’t promulgate this law very well. They have everybody’s mailing address on the FOID card. They could have sent a letter with an explainer saying this is the law and you have to do this, this, and this.

They didn’t figure out the ‘this, this, and this’ particularly well, but more than that, there are people out there who own guns who aren’t as plugged in to gun rights as you and I and your audience are.

They’re going about their lives, and who would expect that his or her turkey gun needs to be registered? Who would expect that their kid’s 10/22 rifle needs to be registered? So there’s that aspect of ignorance of the law as well.”

Dan and I both agree that non-compliance, for whatever reason, appears to be highest in downstate locations like Pope and Pike counties, where just 0.4 percent of all FOID holders have submitted affidavits. But even in places like Cook County fewer than 1 percent of FOID card holders have submitted affidavits, and the counties with the highest rates of compliance, like McLean and Lake counties, have seen less than 2 percent of FOID holders file affidavits with the state police.

Eldridge pointed out that Cook County has had its own “assault weapons” ban in place for years, which has probably cut down on the number of FOID holders who possess one of those items. But he also notes that the universe of guns banned under PICA is much bigger than the county-level bans, so even in the Chicagoland area it appears there’s a large amount of non-compliance with the registration mandate. Again, not every FOID card holder has a gun that must be registered, but there’s simply no way that the number of gun owners who fall under the provisions of the Protect Illinois Communities Act is anywhere close to the paltry number of affidavits on file.

One of the primary reasons why gun owners may be holding off is that they’re hoping the law will be overturned. Keeping track of the multiple lawsuits that have been filed can be a challenge all its own, but Eldridge says the case brought by the Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, along with three other lawsuits, are on a fast-track before U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, and he’s hoping that we’ll have a good decision from the judge as early as mid-April.

If the state appeals to the Seventh Circuit and no undue delays take place in the appellate court issuing its own opinion, Eldridge says he’s hopeful that the Supreme Court could grant cert for the term that begins in October of this year. Given that many downstate sheriffs and some state’s attorneys have said they have no plans on enforcing the law, it wouldn’t surprise me if many gun owners in those locales have decided there’s more potential reward than risk in not complying with the state’s demand to register firearms the legislature has made illegal.

In fact, attorneys for the state of Illinois are now contending that the risk of prosecution for failing to register is basically non-existent. In arguing to dismiss a Fifth Amendment claim against PICA, the attorney general’s office recently declared that no gun owner needs to worry about their right to avoid self-incrimination by registering after the deadline has passed.

In their response to a Fifth Amendment challenge to the state’s gun ban and registry in the Southern District of Illinois federal court, attorneys for the state say the right against self-incrimination isn’t violated by the registry.

The state’s lawyers argue the registration is a “voluntary benefit that exempts owners of certain” firearms from “otherwise applicable criminal penalties.” They also argue the “government has no authority to impose” penalties on those that don’t register and the idea someone would be prosecuted for what they file is “not real.”

“[T]he fanciful chain of events they have dreamed up has no serious chance of coming to fruition,” the filing said.

Then why impose a deadline or make possession of an unregistered firearm a criminal offense in the first place? “Allow us to keep this law because we promise we won’t enforce it” is an odd argument to make, and not one that Judge McGlynn is likely to find persuasive. For now, both the gun registry and the gun and magazine ban at the heart of PICA remain in place, but compliance with the registry remains an outlier among Illinois gun owners.

The Marlin patent went public a century ago.


New Smith & Wesson Model 1894 Series Lever Guns: First Look

New Smith & Wesson Model 1894 Series Lever Guns: First Look

Smith & Wesson is proud to announce the release of its first ever series of lever-action rifles, the S&W Model 1854 Series.

.44 magnum Model 1854 Series rifles are now available through authorized dealers and have an MSRP of $1,279 and $3,499 (Limited-Edition) [the one on top].

This makes no sense whatsoever, but then most goobermint doesn’t


State: ‘Government has no authority’ to impose penalties for not registering banned guns
Data shows 5,900 registered banned guns in Illinois after Jan. 1

(The Center Square) – The state of Illinois says “government has no authority” to impose criminal penalties for those not registering banned firearms.

Illinois State Police have updated the gun ban registration numbers to include those who registered after the Jan. 1 deadline. On top of the 29,357 individuals who registered before the deadline, 5,867 have registered since. The total of those registering before and after the deadline of 35,224 is 1.46% of the state’s more than 2.4 million Firearm Owners ID card holders.

Also updated is a list of how many individuals registered banned items per county. Cook County had the highest numbers of those registering at 6,364. Pope County had the fewest at five.

Lawsuits against the gun ban and registry continue in state and federal court.

In their response to a Fifth Amendment challenge to the state’s gun ban and registry in the Southern District of Illinois federal court, attorneys for the state say the right against self-incrimination isn’t violated by the registry.

The state’s lawyers argue the registration is a “voluntary benefit that exempts owners of certain” firearms from “otherwise applicable criminal penalties.” They also argue the “government has no authority to impose” penalties on those that don’t register and the idea someone would be prosecuted for what they file is “not real.”

“[T]he fanciful chain of events they have dreamed up has no serious chance of coming to fruition,” the filing said.

The filing is part of the ongoing litigation that plaintiffs’ attorney Thomas Maag predicts will get to the merits of the issues in the months ahead.

“It was clear from what [Judge Stephen McGlynn] said that he said that the lawyers should not plan on missing any breaks over the summer,” Maag told The Center Square. “That the judge wants to have a trial on the merits before June.”

Separately in state court last week, an Effingham County judge denied attorney Thomas DeVore’s attempt to reinstate his gun ban challenges that were vacated last year after the Illinois Supreme Court sided with the state in the case brought by state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur.

DeVore said he’s taken the case to the appellate court.

“The judge just kicked the can down the road, he didn’t stop this case,” DeVore told The Center Square. “And the Illinois Supreme Court in their ruling in Caulkins did one good thing, is they gave me a roadmap on how I can win the arguments on equal protection.”

DeVore contends the state saying exempt classes of people, like active duty and retired police, security and prison guards, have specialized training is a “legal fiction.”

“If you break them down, you will find that almost none of them have a duty to protect the public order and the training,” he said.

All preliminary attempts in state and federal court at blocking the law from being implemented have not resulted in the law being overturned. It’s expected the issue will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Observation O’ The Day

On the morning of 9/11, the most insipid person that I ever had the misfortune to work around, said;
“We should just find out what those people want and give it to them.”

A WW2 combat veteran of the South Pacific, still employed in our workplace, said;
“We should just nuke Afghanistan”.

I thought he was extreme but now realize that we would likely be way ahead had we dropped tactical nukes on the training camps and Tora Bora, with no occupation or nation building.

I thought and said to my co-workers;
At least now everyone will realize the absolute necessity of affirming the identity of everyone who enters this country, making sure that they are someone we want here, and keeping track of them. If we can’t do at least that, we are done.

Yet; Here we are™

“Dark Possum”

A stupid, ignorant populace is easier to control


Public Education’s Alarming New 4th ‘R’: Reversal of Learning.

Call it the big reset – downward – in public education.

The alarming plunge in academic performance during the pandemic was met with a significant drop in grading and graduation standards to ease the pressure on students struggling with remote learning. The hope was that hundreds of billions of dollars of emergency federal aid would enable schools to reverse the learning loss and restore the standards.

It’s as if many of the nation’s 50 million public school students have fallen backwards to a time before rigorous standards and accountability mattered very much.

“I’m getting concerned that, rather than continuing to do the hard work of addressing learning loss, schools will start to accept a new normal of lower standards,” said Amber Northern, who oversees research at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a group that advocates for academic rigor in schools.

The question is—why did the windfall of federal funding do so little to help students catch up?

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First Shots: Ruger .45 ACP LC Carbine.

New from Ruger is a .45 ACP version of the original LC Carbine. The original LC Carbine was chambered in the small and fast 5.7x28mm. This new model retains all of the features of the gun, but is chambered in the larger and slower .45 ACP round. All the original features are still retained, including a threaded barrel and a reversible, side-folding, adjustable stock. The firearm is designed to work with 13-round Glock .45 ACP magazines,…..

US appeals court revives Mexico’s $10 billion lawsuit against gun makers

BOSTON (Reuters) – A U.S. appeals court on Monday revived a $10 billion lawsuit by Mexico seeking to hold American gun manufacturers responsible for facilitating the trafficking of weapons to drug cartels across the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower-court judge’s decision dismissing the case on the grounds that a U.S. law barred Mexico from suing Smith & Wesson Brands, Sturm, Ruger & Co and others.

That law, the federal Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), provides the firearms industry broad protection from lawsuits over their products’ misuse.

Mexico’s lawyers argued the law only bars lawsuits over injuries that occur in the U.S. and does not shield the seven manufacturers and one distributor it sued from liability over the trafficking of guns to Mexican criminals.

U.S. Circuit Judge William Kayatta, writing for the three-judge panel, said that while the law can be applied to lawsuits by foreign governments, Mexico’s lawsuit “plausibly alleges a type of claim that is statutorily exempt from the PLCAA’s general prohibition.”
Lawyers for Mexico and the gun makers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Mexico says over 500,000 guns are trafficked annually from the U.S. into Mexico, of which more than 68% are made by the companies it sued, which also include Beretta USA, Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Colt’s Manufacturing Co and Glock Inc.

In its August 2021 complaint, Mexico estimated that 2.2% of the nearly 40 million guns made annually in the U.S. are smuggled into Mexico, including as many as 597,000 guns made by the defendants.

Mexico said the smuggling has been a key factor in its ranking third worldwide in the number of gun-related deaths. It also claimed to suffer many other harms, including declining investment and economic activity and a need to spend more on law enforcement and public safety.

The companies deny wrongdoing. Their lawyers say Mexico’s lawsuit is devoid of allegations the gun manufacturers’ gun sales themselves did anything that would create an exception to PLCAA’s broad protections.

Mississippi mother shoots burglar to protect 3 children

CARROLL CO., Miss. (WLBT) – A mother heroically protected her three children from a man who broke into her home wielding a knife.

Monday, Carroll County deputies received a call for help from the mother’s husband, who was at work in Greenwood.

He told deputies that a knife-wielding man was attempting to enter his home in the Gravel Hill area of the county while his wife and three children were hiding in a closet. The father then described the man and the vehicle he was in.

A press release says that when deputies arrived at the home, the suspect, Steve Lamar Goss, Jr., 44, had already driven away. They learned that before Goss left, he drove his 2500 GMC pickup truck into the home’s dining room after he could not kick the front door down.

While all of this was happening, a press release says the mother prayed, and her three children recited scripture while hiding in a closet designated as the family’s safe room.

When Goss found them, a press release says the mother shot him in the arm as he entered the closet still holding a knife.

Other deputies responding to the scene found a vehicle matching the description given by the husband.

A press release says they attempted a felony traffic stop in the parking lot of Acy’s Store. However, Goss ran into the business. Deputies then chased and arrested him inside the store. He was taken to Greenwood Leflore Hospital to be treated for the gunshot wound in his arm.

He was then booked into Carroll Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility on four counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Goss was already out on felony bond for possession of a weapon by a felon, a press release says.

Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker says, “We can all learn a lot from this family about the importance of having an emergency plan in place in our homes and, most importantly, the power of prayer. I thank the Lord for this father’s preparation; the bravery shown by the mother and children, and that what could have been a tragedy was transformed into a testimony of their faith in God.”


Robbery turns deadly, suspect killed by resident

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) – The Wichita Falls Police Department said an attempted robbery Sunday evening ended with 32-year-old suspect Quincy Moore dead and others sent to the hospital.

Police said they responded to the Country Park Apartments in the 5200 block of Professional Drive at around 9:30 p.m., Sunday. Officers found three people with gunshot wounds, including one person who is a resident of the apartments.

The victim told police the other two males used a firearm in an attempt to rob him. Gunshots rang out after the victim also pulled out his firearm. All three males were wounded.

Police say Moore was pronounced dead at the hospital. The other suspect remains in serious condition and is under guard by police officers.

The victim of the robbery has been treated and released.

Police have not released the identity of the suspect under guard at the hospital.

THE JIG IS UP… EXCLUSIVE: Local Reporter Describes Election Expert Halderman Breaking into Dominion Voting Machine and Changing Vote Totals During His Georgia Testimony

Update: After speaking with election integrity expert Garland Favorito, we discovered the courtroom display was much more serious than originally reported. J. Alex Halderman demonstrated in court how Dominion machines were hacked and altered their tabulations.

J. Alex Halderman explained how to hack into an electronic voting machine in a previous lecture.

On Friday, in a Federal Court In Atlanta, Georgia, University of Michigan Professor of Computer Science and Engineering J. Alex Halderman testified in front of Judge Amy Totenberg’s courtroom about the Dominion voting machines used in the Georgia elections since 2020.

As reported earlier, during his testimony, Halderman was able to HACK A DOMINION VOTING MACHINE and change the tabulations in front of U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg and the entire courtroom!

Halderman USED ONLY A PEN TO CHANGE VOTE TOTALS!

His testimony was part of a long-running lawsuit by election integrity activists set as a bench trial.

The plaintiffs seek to remove what they say are insecure voting machines in Georgia in favor of secure paper ballots.

Following The Gateway Pundit’s explosive report on Saturday night, we spoke with Georgia reporter Amber Connor, who has been sitting in the courtroom during the trial for the past two weeks.

Amber confirmed what was reported earlier about Halderman’s demonstration live on how to hack a Dominion voting machine and change the totals using only a pen. In fact Halderman borrowed a pen from the defense attorneys for his demonstration.

The mainstream legacy news media has decided to ignore this historic case taking place in Georgia for some reason. Why is that?

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Leave The Pews

College campuses across the country were erupting in Jew-hating outbursts, and parents were rightly worried about their Jewish college-aged kids caught up in the frenzy of hate. On Facebook, a group called Mothers Against College Antisemitism (M.A.C.A.) was founded and grew quickly to over 50,000 members. They shared information, emailed, called, and signed petitions. They stood united against the oldest hatred rearing its head again.

But just as fast, fissures formed. The cudgel of DEI – that is, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies that had been used against Jewish students – was the subject of feverish debate. Sure, the policies were bad for Jews, but weren’t we all good liberals after all? Shouldn’t that take precedence here? People earnestly wondered whether other minority groups would be mad at them if they fought to end DEI instead of simply fighting to get Jews included in the special identity groups recognized by the absurd system.

It wasn’t just DEI, either. When Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced a plan to fast-track Jewish students who were feeling unsafe in their own universities who wanted to transfer to Florida colleges where he pledged they would be protected, commenters in the group warned not to accept his kindness as he was on the wrong political side.

What became clear within that Facebook group and in so many other quarters since Oct. 7 is that much of secular Judaism, in both the Reform and Conservative branches, had become overtly political and not really religiously based at all. For many Jews, their religious identity had become so intertwined with leftist politics that they couldn’t force a separation even when they themselves were being targeted with their own bad ideas.

They pledged allyship to other groups in their tent, not to Judaism or Israel. This was evident in 2019 when daily attacks began on Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn. Activist synagogues in places like Park Slope, which would have been at the forefront of marches had any other group come under attack, spent years staying silent about it. The attackers, often caught on video, were frequently other minorities, not MAGA hat-wearing white people as they would have hoped, so it was awkward to raise a fuss. Progressive politics was the code they followed, and Judaism was an identity umbrella like all the others in their movement. “As a Jew …” they would begin their lectures. As a Jew, they were rarely interested in Judaism.

The Oct. 7 attacks in Israel woke many in the diaspora from their comfortable slumber. Jews in America and elsewhere, traumatized already from images of Jewish children stolen from their homes and Jewish teenagers mowed down while dancing at a music festival, also had to contend with a huge outpouring of hate in their own countries.

For many liberal Jews, it was hard to ignore that it wasn’t the boogeyman white supremacists that they had been warned about their entire lives. No, it was their professors, their co-workers at the nonprofit, friends of their college-aged kids calling for an end to Israel and celebrating the murder of Jews. And these hateful marches were not happening in rural Alabama, in the places they were taught to fear, but mainly in the bluest of blue cities.

The political bedfellows they had slept beside were sharply opposed to Israel doing anything but simply accepting the attacks of Oct. 7.

By Oct. 8, their “allies” had already taken to the streets, some in grotesque glee over the slaughter of Jews in their homes, others tearing down posters of kidnapped children, to say Israel should just sit down and take it.

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The Supreme Court Just Took a Side in the Biden Border Crisis

The Supreme Court sided with the Biden administration on Monday in a split decision that will allow federal agents to cut razor wire installed by Texas officials along the U.S.-Mexico border amid the worsening crisis created by President Biden’s policies.

The 5-4 decision granted an emergency appeal filed by the Biden administration to reverse an injunction from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and now allows the feds to dismantle concertina wire while the lawsuit over Texas’ efforts to assume the duties of enforcing the international border — a responsibility that’s been abdicated by the Biden administration — moves ahead.

According to the Court’s order in Department of Homeland Security et al. v Texas:

The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is granted. The December 19, 2023 order of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, case No. 23-50869, is vacated.

Justice Thomas, Justice Alito, Justice Gorsuch, and Justice Kavanaugh would deny the application to vacate injunction.

Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett joined the liberal wing constituted by Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson to grant the Biden administration’s appeal.

As Fox News Channel’s Bill Melugin noted on X following the Supreme Court’s ruling, this is “potentially setting up a significant state vs federal showdown.” That’s because most of the razor wire installed by state officials in Texas lies in Eagle Pass’ Shelby Park which was seized by Texas as it fights to secure the border amid Biden’s failures. Texas booted federal agents from the park, but the SCOTUS order means Border Patrol needs access to the park to cut the razor wire.

Vivek Ramaswamy suspends presidential campaign, endorses Trump

Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign after a deflating Iowa caucus result on Monday, throwing his weight behind his onetime opponent, former President Donald Trump.

The Ohio biotech entrepreneur, who promised his far-right and anti-establishment policy proposals could unite the country around a shared identity, garnered less than 8% in Iowa’s caucuses.

He trailed far behind Trump, who pulled in more than 51% of the votes, and Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who garnered 21% and 19% respectively, with 97% of results reported as of 11:30 p.m. Monday.

“We are going to suspend this presidential campaign,” Ramaswamy said. “There is no path for me to be the next president, absent things that we don’t want to see happen in this country.”