The Senate passed several different gun control bills during the week.
House Bill 1273, called the Gun Dealer Licensing Act, requires some gun dealers to maintain a security system that alerts local law enforcement of a break-in.
Sen. Righter voted against the measure and says his major concern is this proposal doesn’t treat big box stores, like Walmart, the same as the local ‘mom and pop’ stores in our communities – instead penalizing thousands of gun stores. Righter also says that while he wants to keep firearms out of the wrong hands, we need identify a way to do so that isn’t at the expense of the law-abiding, small business owners in our communities.
A second bill, House Bill 772, would allow family members or law enforcement to file for a lethal violence order of protection if someone poses an immediate and present danger by owning or purchasing a firearm.
Righter says he voted against the measure because it’s overly broad, allowing an individual’s extended family member or law enforcement to petition the court to remove a person’s firearms; it eliminates due process, allowing the emergency petition and order to be made ex-parte (with respect to or in the interests of one side only or of an interested outside party), which would be issued by a judge based solely on an unrebutted affidavit, and with no input made by the individual the order is targeting; it’s ripe for abuse, allowing a mere insinuation that gun ownership makes you a danger to yourself or others sets a dangerous precedent; and it’s not necessary because Illinois law already provides that a person who is subject to an existing order of protection may not lawfully possess weapons under the Firearm Owners identification Card Act.