From McHenryt’s Tim Beck:

The Democrats’ Gun Legislation

The Northwest Herald recently publish an Op Ed entitled “McHenry County Board discounts reasonable gun law.” HB5471 was passed by Democrat legislators and signed by Governor JB Pritzker on January 10 th on the last day of the lame duck session of the Illinois legislature.

While the Northwest Herald’s Editorial Board refers to this legislation as a reasonable gun law, Conservatives use a different adjective – it is an unconstitutional law.

Conservatives cite the explicit language of the Second Amendment – our citizens’ right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

This unalienable right has been confirmed by the US Supreme Court several times over the past several decades, most notably in District of Columbia v. Heller in 2008.

The debate over HB5471 illustrates the growing divide between “Progressives” and Conservatives in our country.

Progressives oftentimes view the US Constitution as a “living document”, or simply a framework that should be reinterpreted to fit the latest issue of the day.

On the other hand, Conservatives reject that line of thinking and tend to be “originalists” – the Constitution’s words continue to mean exactly what they meant when written.

Although that viewpoint oftentimes frustrates Progressives, the ten amendments in the Bill of Rights were written to protect our citizens’ rights from the possibility of government tyranny.

The NWH Op Ed states that the Democrats’ law sounds like a reasonable approach to Protect Illinois Communities, and asks the question – “What is wrong with that?”

The Conservative response is that abridging the rights of law-abiding citizens does nothing to reduce the criminal use of firearms by violent offenders. Criminals do not care about laws passed by the Illinois legislature.

Many people do not know that the city of Highland Park had an assault weapons ban on the books since 2013.

Unfortunately, many progressives believe HB5471 would somehow achieve what the Highland Park ban could not.

Even if every gun were to be confiscated, the Democrats’ solution does not prevent an evil person from using an SUV to commit murder.

HB5471 bans future sales of certain types of firearms, and it requires the registration of those firearms currently owned.

Unless HB5471 is overturned, a law-abiding citizen who has never committed a crime will become a felon if they refuse to comply.

Although the legislation does not call for the confiscation of existing firearms, a number of prominent progressive politicians have declared that is exactly their goal.

In the eyes of Conservatives, it is fortunate that HB5471 was immediately challenged by a number of groups in various courts, and we are thankful a number of Temporary Restraining Orders are in place as this legislation is litigated.

In addition to the issue of violating the Second Amendment, some of the lawsuits are challenging the manner in which HB5471 was passed during the lame duck session.

The issues cited ask whether the process that was used was in violation of certain provisions in the Illinois Constitution, most notably the single-issue rule and the three readings rule.

In her March 1 st Op Ed, Kelli Wegener bemoans the fact that our county government used our tax dollars and countless hours of staff time to make a political statement to Governor Pritzker and the Democrat legislators.

Many Conservatives wish the Democrat party didn’t waste our tax dollars by passing an unconstitutional law, and we support the message that our County Board has delivered to Springfield.