Lake County Gazette

Glenn Garamoni, president of the State Line Rifle Association of Illinois is speaking out against a bill that would make the possession of several types of guns and accessories illegal. 

HB5855 would make many types of commonly owned guns illegal. State Line Rifle Association of Illinois is based in Round Lake Park. 

Garamoni said that the bill “Declares political war on law-abiding gun owners.” According to him, the bill reflects 'an abysmal knowledge of basic firearm facts and proponents do not know what they do not know.' "It is also reflective of the 'proponents’ true intentions of disarming law-abiding citizens." 

Despite promoting the bill as a measure to support gun safety, 'responsible ownership,' and 'keeping guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them,' Garamoni said HB5855 would do none of these.

"It is an undeniable attack on law-abiding gun owners, their personal property, and the 2nd Amendment. If passed, any trust or collaboration between gun owners and so-called 'common sense gun safety' proponents will be destroyed,” Garamoni said in a statement regarding HB5855 being shared on social media. He said the bill "fails to recognize that there are hundreds of thousands (maybe more) of so-called 'assault weapons' and 'large capacity magazines' in the hands of law-abiding gun owners in Illinois that have never been and will never be used in any crime.” 

Garamoni also underscored that the measure, “Defines assault weapons based on how scary they look," and "not how they actually operate or the manner in which they are commonly used.” In effect "it bans nearly all modern semi-auto rifles just because of the way they look." He added that, "The features that the assault weapon definition includes actually are features designed for safety, ergonomics or another useful and legitimate purpose that have nothing to do with the gun’s lethality or any imagined criminal purpose. The banned features just make the gun look scary to the uninformed." 

Garamoni said the bill, “Denies a law-abiding 'assault weapon' owner the right to replace a covered gun, legally transfer or ever buy a new one – the bill is taking guns away! (The bill) Denies grandfathering of currently possessed 'large capacity' magazines. The bill requires that law-abiding owners surrender or otherwise dispose of all magazines over 10 rounds which includes nearly all commonly used modern semi auto rifle magazines and modern pistol magazines. Or become a felon overnight. Makes some guns useless that do not have 10-round magazines available. Provides NO exemption for federally licensed firearms dealers and manufacturers in Illinois. Goodbye to many jobs in Illinois at Springfield Armory, Rock River Arms, DS Arms, Rock Island Armory, Krebs Custom and Benjamin Tactical Inc. to name a few. If you are a law abiding firearm owner in Illinois, I strongly encourage you to heed this over-reaching attempt to disarm citizens and criminalize gun ownership in Illinois. Please contact your state rep and state senator to oppose this bill or be subjected to losing your rights to own firearms and magazines in Illinois.”

The bill was recently sponsored and filed by state Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield). Morgan’s HB5855 would make the possession of several types of firearms and accessories illegal. 

According to the bill's synopsis, the bill “Makes it unlawful to manufacture, deliver, sell, or purchase or cause to be manufactured, delivered, sold, or purchased or cause to be possessed by another, an assault weapon, assault weapon attachment, .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge. Makes it unlawful for any person to knowingly possess an assault weapon, .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge 300 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act, except possession of weapons registered with the Illinois State Police in the time provided. Provides exemptions and penalties. Prohibits the manufacture, delivery, sale, purchase, or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.”

The bill was referred for a hearing in the Rules Committee where it will likely see a debate in January. It has picked up more than 20 Democratic co-sponsors since being filed.

Illinois' gun laws have been ranked the sixth most restrictive in the country amid some of the worst instances of gun violence, according to Everytown Research and Policy, a 501(c)(3) organization focusing on awareness and educational work related to gun violence prevention. Opponents say HB5855 would likely mean the most restrictive environment for lawful gun owners in the history of the country. For years, the state has placed various regulations on gun ownership, governing.com reported.

The bill's sponsor was at the Highland Park shooting in July where seven were killed and more than 48 wounded after a gunman opened fire. In that instance, the alleged gunman, Robert Crimo III, was issued a gun permit by the Illinois State Police despite having red flags on his record for mental illness and instances of violence, which many are calling a failure of the governor’s office. “Had the Pritzker administration done what they said they were going to do, which was to review and make sure laws already on the books were being implemented more effectively, the tragedy in Highland Park might never have occurred,” Sen. Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles) said in a statement, according to The Pantagraph.

Dan Eldridge, of the gun dealers’ association Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, said that HB5855 would criminalize ordinary Illinoisans. “It’s somewhere between two and 10 million magazines, and it’s a massive impact,” he said. Eldridge told The Center Square that “These are the standard magazines that come with a duty-sized pistol even, they’re the standard magazines that come with a rifle. These are not aftermarket extended capacity magazines.” He added that "With an immediate effective date, mere possession of a – and I’m not going to use their words, I’m going to use accurate words – mere possession of a standard-capacity magazine is a crime. There’s no getting around that. So you’ve got Second Amendment issues. You’ve got Fourth Amendment issues. You’ve got Fourteenth Amendment issues. You can’t do this.”