Illinois: Bill to Create Gun Seizure Regime Introduced

Illinois state Senator Michael Hastings (D-19) has introduced legislation to create a gun seizure regime that would even apply to those who have simply failed to renew their firearm license.  Please contact your state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 44.  Click the “Take Action” button to contact your state Senator.

Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 44, introduced by Sen. Hastings, would among other things, direct Illinois State Police to designate “gun liaison officers” to work with local law enforcement in order to seize Firearm Owner Identification cards (FOID) that are revoked and to confiscate all firearms and ammunition in possession of the individual.  Revoked FOID cards would include those that have been allowed to expire, even if there were to be a pending application for renewal at the time.  If there are multiple FOID holders in a household and one member has their FOID revoked, nothing would prevent law enforcement from simply seizing all firearms and ammunition in the house.  The legislation makes no mention as to how an individual may recover their property if it’s incorrectly seized or if they re-acquire a FOID card.  There are no provisions to allow those revoked FOID holders to sell or dispose of their firearms to licensed dealers or valid FOID holders. 

These confiscations would be facilitated by the de facto firearm registration recently signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker.  The creation of such gun seizure infrastructure along with registration would also facilitate future confiscations of commonly-owned firearms if arbitrarily banned or firearms from those who have their Second Amendment rights wrongly revoked without due process.

Again, please click the “Take Action” button above to contact your state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE Sen. Hasting’s SA 1 to SB 44.