BELLEVUE, WA – The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms is urging its Illinois members and fellow gun owners to call lawmakers in Springfield and warn them to not allow Chicago lawmakers and the State Police to hijack SB 1034, transforming it into a stealth gun control measure.

The original legislation has been replaced by language designed to severely impair the rights of law-abiding Illinois firearms owners, including new residents to the state. According to our colleagues at the Illinois State Rifle Association’s Political Victory Fund, the legislation as currently written would:

•Expand the list of disqualifying misdemeanors that would prevent an individual from owning firearms. Under this legislation, something as simple as a shouting match with one’s brother over a football game could result in a revocation of one’s right to own firearms.
•Allow representatives for the gun prohibition lobby to testify against issuance of FOID cards to individual citizens.
•Institute a 60-day “waiting period” during which new residents of Illinois would be prohibited from purchasing firearms or ammunition.
•Require disclosure of your Social Security number to obtain an FOID card.
•Require immediate notification of a residence change to the State Police, even though a resident has 30 days to change the address on his/her driver’s license.

“This legislative revision is the handiwork of Chicago anti-gunners looking to adopt onerous restrictions on the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms,” noted CCRKBA Chairman Alan Gottlieb. “Illinois gun owners should use the vote on this measure as a litmus test for every state lawmaker who will be claiming to support the Second Amendment come the campaign season this fall.”