Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Dems Attempt a Gun Grab!
By Mark Schwendau
New efforts are underway in Illinois to ban semi-automatic weapons and certain-size gun magazines. There is also talk about restricting gun ownership to only those 21 and older. Interestingly, newly re-elected Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker only took about a month after the election to attempt yet another lefty gun grab. Some of the Democratic Party have even begun discussing having billionaire J.B. Pritzker run for president in 2024.
Why not? He has been doing a good job of cleaning house in Illinois, and by “cleaning house,” I mean people are leaving Illinois in droves! When our beloved John Deere Co. announces they are leaving, I am going to start selling t-shirts, “WILL THE LAST PERSON TO LEAVE ILLINOIS PLEASE TURN OFF THE LIGHTS?”
Gov. Pritzker, the Hyatt Hotel mogul, said, “While I support an assault weapon and high-capacity magazine ban at the state level, we urgently need federal regulation on the weapons of war and high-capacity magazines that are used only for mass murder.”
Gov. Pritzker made banning the sale of assault weapons a key component of his successful reelection campaign. Illinois Democrats enjoy supermajorities of 73-45 in the state House and 41-18 in the state Senate. A vote during the lame-duck session could give some departing lawmakers latitude to take a tough vote on a contentious issue without fear of a backlash at the ballot box. The very few days of the scheduled session also will allow Illinois Democrats to push the measure through quickly. The Democrats will still hold a supermajority in the next House and Senate.
The measure up for debate was sponsored by state Rep. Bob Morgan of Deerfield. It is viewed as a response to the mass shooting in Highland Park at the suburb’s Fourth of July parade this year. In that shooting, Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, 21, also known as “Awake the Rapper,” killed seven and injured dozens more from a rooftop position in downtown Highland Park on July 4 of this year. A short time later, he was “taken into custody without incident” on U.S. 41 at Westleigh Road in Lake Forest after being spotted by North Chicago police.
Crimo is the middle child of three from a family of Italian descent with a history of making threatening statements and showing a dark side on social media. He legally purchased the weapon after his father gave consent for him to get a state firearm owner’s identification (FOID) card at the age of 19. Under the Illinois Democrat’s proposed legislation, those under 21 wouldn’t be able to acquire a FOID card in the future unless they are active-duty military or National Guard members. For the record, his father seems like a decent guy who operates a deli there and said he did not see this coming.
The proposed law would also ban the sale of high-capacity ammunition gun magazines and make changes intended to strengthen the state’s red-flag law. These changes involve extending the period someone can be barred from possessing a gun from six months to a year and giving local prosecutors a greater role in the process.
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The details of the Highland Park shooting raised questions about whether the law could have been used to keep the alleged shooter from purchasing the weapon used in the attack.
“I favor the legislation that he’s put forward,” Pritzker said of Morgan’s bill, while the governor added the caveat that “the legislative process can be a grinding one that requires a lengthier look at each piece” of a proposal.
For reference, that same weekend in Chicago, just south of Highland Park, according to Chicago Police Department data, 68 people were shot in 51 separate shootings, with eight dead during that same holiday weekend, and none of those shootings were by so-called “assault weapons.”
The infographic website shows that Chicago, Illinois, alone (year-to-date) has seen 630 people shot and killed, with 2,792 shot and wounded, for total shootings thus far of 3,422.
Wednesday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said, “It’s important that we do it as fast as possible, there’s no doubt, but I just want to be clear, our aim is to have it done within the first half of the year.” Morgan, D-Deerfield, said Thursday he aims to pass it even sooner.
House Bill 5855 will be heard at 11 a.m. Monday morning in a House committee. As of yesterday, witness slips for that hearing show 7,300 slips in support and more than 13,400 in opposition.
The Catholic Conference of Illinois said in a statement on Thursday that it supports “a total ban” on semi-automatic guns and limitations on “civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines.”
“We now call on the members of the Illinois General Assembly to ban these deadly weapons in our state as a means of protecting the common good and preserving life and peace in our communities,” the Catholic group said.
If the bill is enacted as Illinois law, opponents say they plan to file a lawsuit immediately.
The Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA) said the bill would ban over 100 types of common rifles, pistols, and shotguns that many people own. They report the bill would force a firearms registry and turn anyone owning certain magazines into a felon once the bill is signed by the governor.
“There is no part of HB5855 we think is constitutional,” ISRA Executive Director Richard Pearson said in a statement.
Dan Eldridge with Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois (FFLI), and others opposed to more gun control, say Illinois State Police had the tools to keep the Highland Park shooting suspect from purchasing guns before. The suspect applied for and received a state-issued Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) Card from ISP in 2019. That agency didn’t follow up on a “clear and present danger report” local police issued on the suspect earlier that year.
Illinois State police have since tightened their rules, saying they now have broader use of clear and present danger reports on individuals who may apply for a FOID card.
Eldridge said turning law-abiding gun owners into criminals overnight isn’t the answer.
“And when we step back and look at these high profile mass killings, you’ll see that the perpetrators, the violent offenders have an awful lot in common with each other, but absolutely nothing in common with law-abiding gun owners,” Eldridge told The Center Square news publication.
CONCLUSION:
Socialist liberal Democrats are adept at looking past the crux of a real problem to further their agenda of disarming all Americans. Over the years since I was a very young man growing up on the outskirts of Chicago, I took a very real and personal interest in crime in Chicago.
Why?
My grandparents grew up there, worked there, lived there, and absolutely loved Chicago. Were they alive today, they would be horrified. All four of my grandparents were good Christians. They raised us not to be racist because “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, whether red, yellow, black or white, they are precious in His sight.”
So here are some cold hard facts I have collected over the years for opportunist Democrats like J.B. Pritzker.
When you liberals closed down the Illinois State mental health institutes with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in the late 1960s under the guise of civil rights violations, the American Psychological Association (APA) warned you that days like these with people like Crimo would be coming! THIS ONE IS ON YOU!
When you passed the unconstitutional and illegal Illinois Firearms Owners Identification (FOID) card system in 1968, which violates lawful gun owners’ rights to privacy, you were warned the law would not affect illegal gun use in Illinois, specifically in Chicago! AGAIN, THIS ONE IS ON YOU!
Now for some cold hard facts about gun crimes in Illinois for all of our tone-deaf Democrats…
Most gun crimes are NOT committed by high-power long rifles.
Most gun crimes are committed by easily concealed handguns.
Most handguns used to commit homicides in Illinois have been reported as stolen.
Most of the shooters found with these stolen handguns do not hold a valid Illinois FOID card.
Most Chicago gun crimes are classified racially as black-on-black (consistently over 90%).
Most Chicago gun crimes have a street gang connection to them.
Many Chicago gang shootings are done as a ritualistic gang initiation process. (“You pop a cap in some guy’s ass, and you can be one of us.”)
And the one I love best…
Most mass shooters across the nation have been registered Democrats!
I tried to determine the political leaning of Robert E. “Bobby” Crimo III, but the Internet has been making that increasingly hard to do since they know people like me are looking for this information. Interestingly, the several articles I found titled something like “Who is this Robert E. Crimo III?” never got there either. However, Bobby Crimo III lived at home with his parents in Highland Park, and Wikipedia reports, “Highland Park is considered a Democratic stronghold, giving Joe Biden more than 80% of its vote in the 2020 United States presidential election.”
Logically thinking, I guess that means there is an 80% chance Bobby Crimo is yet another Democrat mass shooter, right?
Logically thinking, maybe we need new legislation prohibiting Democrats from owning “high power assault rifles” if you really want to get serious about stopping mass shootings in America.
And for the record, I do not own one of these rifles, but yes, I have shot them.
My gut reaction WAS, “Yahoo, I hit the bullseye, first try! But, man, that is the loudest damned gun I have ever fired in my life.”
J.B. Pritzker is a real donkey Democrat. Yesterday he belittled lawful gun owners and members of the NRA by saying, “Again, good guys with guns were not the answer. There were lots of good guys with guns in Highland Park that day. They did not stop this shooting.”
How many good guys did you have on rooftops that day, J.B.? Illinois law enforcement will continue to carry high-power assault rifles, no doubt. Illinois law enforcement should also know all about “tactical advantage.” The gun was not the issue on July 4th in Highland Park, Illinois. The issue was a tactical advantage and access to a downtown commercial rooftop by some guy with mental issues owning a weapon, but it could have been any weapon, so the weapon used is not the issue!
It could have been a 2004 Ford Escape SUV! USE YOUR HEAD!
Copyright © 2022 by Mark S. Schwendau
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Mark S. Schwendau is a retired technology professor who has always had a sideline in news-editorial writing where his byline has been, “Bringing little known news to people who simply want to know the truth.” He classifies himself as a Christian conservative who God cast to be a realist. Mark is an award-winning educator who has published seven books and numerous peer-reviewed trade journal articles, some of which can be found on the Internet. His father was a fireman/paramedic, while his mother was a registered nurse. He holds degrees in technology education, industrial management, OSHA Safety, and Driver’s Education. His website is www.IDrawIWrite.Tech.
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