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Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was all smiles as he signed two new gun control bills into law this week, claiming they’ll save lives and protect children.
For gun owners in the Prairie State, though, the message was clear: more restrictions, more mandates, and even fewer rights for the law-abiding.
The bills – HB 1373 and the Safe Gun Storage Act (SB 8) – are the latest in a string of anti-gun laws Illinois has rolled out under Pritzker’s tenure.
Together, they mandate crime gun tracing for all firearms recovered at crime scenes and tighten storage requirements for guns in homes, with the state arguing this will prevent accidents, suicides, and thefts.
Pritzker didn’t hold back the rhetoric during the signing ceremony, blasting gun owners, the firearms industry, and anyone who resists more laws.
He accused pro-2A advocates and the “gun lobby” of “ducking and covering for the gun industry’s money” and claimed he’s “tired of treating something completely preventable as inevitable.”
The state’s attorney general and legislative allies echoed his talking points, insisting that forcing every police department to log crime guns and mandating home storage will finally curb gun violence.
Advocates like GPAC Illinois and Moms Demand Action alumni cheered the measures as “common-sense” life-savers.
The Problem
Here’s the problem: Illinois has been stacking gun laws for years, yet Chicago remains one of the nation’s most violent cities. Lawful gun owners have watched their rights shrink while carjackers, gang members, and repeat felons seem to operate with impunity.
Mandatory storage laws don’t stop determined criminals. They don’t stop straw purchasers, gang members, or violent felons, and they certainly wouldn’t have prevented the city’s most recent shootings. What they do is burden the law-abiding – the very people least likely to misuse a firearm.
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Pritzker boasted about reducing shootings on state highways, pointing to the impact of law enforcement. But that success came from police action, not another pile of regulations on gun owners.
And let’s not forget: Illinois already passed a sweeping “assault weapons” ban, universal background checks, and ghost gun prohibitions. Criminals haven’t exactly called it quits.
Safe storage laws are particularly controversial. While no responsible gun owner objects to keeping firearms secure, turning personal security decisions into legal mandates raises serious Second Amendment concerns.
What SB 8 Means for Illinois Gun Owners:
- Mandates locked storage if minors under 18 could access your gun.
- Civil fines up to $10,000 if a child or prohibited person gains access and harm occurs.
- Lost or stolen firearms must be reported within 48 hours (down from 72).
- Violations are negligence per se in civil court.
Rights Under Siege
For 2A advocates, the signing ceremony was a stark reminder that Illinois isn’t interested in working with gun owners – it’s working against them.
The Governor celebrated these bills as “life-saving,” but history tells us they’re likely to be another set of feel-good laws that fail to stop criminals while setting up law-abiding citizens for legal trouble.
Expect these laws to face court challenges under Bruen, especially given that the Supreme Court has made clear that modern gun regulations must align with historical tradition.
Illinois has been on a collision course with the Second Amendment for years, and these new laws push that conflict even further.
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the Idiot up on stage doing the work of hitler using his exact same words is making it easier for evil people to do evil things. I notice men standing near him with guns to protect him. When he goes home how many people are protecting him and his family? a LOT. everyone else has to protect themselves and their families. I say the very next preventable death for the victim having a conceal carry handgun and training we cut a hand off this man’s hand for letting him die. Chicago, you’re cattle on a farm with no protection . NOT ONE law enforcement officer has any obligation to protect you. By law they can watch you be raped over and over and all your skin cut off and then shot to death. My son is a Crime Scene Investigator. I know every law there is to need to know. I’m a sheepdog and the sheep and wolves hate me. Chicago, your life in prison is coming. get rid of your socialist, communist Nazi regime. I want you, every single lawful citizen to be happy, safe, and alive. If anyone cares I do. How many people unconditionally love and want the best for you? count me in. please break out of this cycle of having masters.
This absolutely infringes on 2A…. This reeks of gun registry. How does the government know what stolen weapon originally belongs to whom in order to enforce the civil penalties? A state ran serial number database? This is only another step toward tyranny.
In HELLER v. DC, SCOTUS held that it is unconstitutional for the state to require you to lock up a gun so that it isn’t instantly ready for self defense use. Additionally, there is no historical predicate law of the founding era that required guns to be made inaccessible to anyone. May take years but these laws are destined for the shit can.
He fucks children. Kike monster.
Another good idea implemented in a heavy-handed and bone-headed way by illinois. Safe storage laws are the only gun control laws that will have any meaningful impact on crime. The overwhelming majority of crimes are committed with stolen firearms. The safest place for a gun to be is on your person. If you are not actively carrying your gun it should be locked up whether you have children in the home or not. There are plenty of decent Firearms storage options available for less than the cost of a few boxes of ammo. Gun free zones need to go away all together. Many Firearms are stolen out of vehicles because the owner isn’t allowed to carry them into a restaurant or other business. The requirement to report stolen Firearms within 48 hours is also absurd. Our gun owners required to do a Firearms inventory every two days to make sure something hasn’t been stolen? The requirement should be to report a stolen firearm within 24 hours of discovering that it is missing.
Do how does this address criminal activity? It doesn’t. Stolen guns are out there already. Straw purchases have been conducted been conducted since the GCA was enacted. Access to guns is not and has never been the problem. The problem is criminal activity. A problem the left openly refuses to address. To give you an idea of how long the attitude has been, there was an old joke from the sixties and seventies. At some point, prisons will be used to protect the innocents as crime runs wild in the streets.
Fat Pritzker is a clown.
How exactly do safe storage laws infringe on 2a rights ? Right, they do not. The fact is theft is the #1 way guns get in the hands of criminals and fewer kids will die if guns are inaccessible to them. There are safes in the market that make it very easy and quick to retrieve a gun when needed.
when strangers can tell and force you to do anything then it’s an infringement. stop helping the criminals and start enforcing the laws!
It seems to me that the city of Chicago is really Illinois, not the rest of the state. It doesn’t matter what the people who live anywhere else want. It’s always pols in one city that seem to make rules everyone else has to follow. I remember Boss Daly and how he destroyed an airport to make way for some rich friends to own lakeside condos. If the folks living in this state don’t get together and drive bad pols from their government, they’ll be like New Yorkers, who have to do what NYC says. Perhaps a small demonstration (of about a million people) marching on the state house lawn….waving their guns….would do it. But the pussies won’t do it. Too programmed.
And that’s exactly why they deserve what they get… Their refusal to vote properly/intelligently and their unwillingness to speak up.
Yeah right, Utah and Idaho have all last great patriots and wife kidnapping Church elders. Oh wait, the worlds more complicated than one flippant remark.
Flippant statement. Yes, you made one. Narrow, arrogant, and overly simplistic in its presentation. Utah’s problems are democrats overt protection of criminals and illegal aliens. Idaho’s problem is the west coast migration escaping the disaster they created and hoping to do a better job of destroying the area they move to.
Have you followed the conversation where all the residents of Illinois were called “pussies”? Either you read the post where the all the citizens were called “pussies” and you agree at least enough to let that stand or you have just NOT read or understand enough of the conversation to appropriately respond. But you did respond as if the issues in Utah and Idaho were really the point I was making. OK, got it, you really do NOT understand the intended meaning of my choice of the term flippant. How about sarcasm? Satire?
Since you brought up the “democrats overt protection of criminals and illegal aliens,” and the “west coast migration,” then maybe should have explained to the other 2 posters how any state could be turned blue. If Utah and Idaho are being turned blue then maybe it’s threat in every state, that was the point I was making.
Maybe you can go on record and explain whether you agree or disagree that ALL the residents in Illinois are “pussies”? Maybe you can go on record and explain whether the residents in Illinois that support the 2A and are defying the Public Act 102-1116 and facing Class 2 felonies (3-7 years per charge) are deserving the label of “pussies” and “too programmed”?
There are around 100 counties in ILLinois, Cook County runs the state. Without Cook County, ILLinois would be a red state. The vast majority of the tax paying productive state is NOT blue. The teacher’s union rallied the students in Chicago and got an imbecile teacher elected mayor. A million people are NOT “a small demonstration” and the member of the ISRA (Illinois Gun Owners Lobby Day, IGOLD) in ILLinois have been marching on the state Capitol since the 1990’s. It’s usually the largest demonstration in the state and is ignored by the lame stream media.
We already got plenty of supposed 2A supporters here already that sit in judgement of fellow gun owners that are currently behind enemy lines. The people of ILLinois that you call “pussies” defied Jay Bob Pritzker and refused to knuckle under to his un-Constitutional PICA. Every state is under threat from the left-wing mob and the last fake POTUS (genuine POS) #46 would have flooded the states where people like you seem to think are so much better than the pro 2A people in ILLinois.
like any person that is the real cause of gun violence will ever pay a fine.
Since so many firearms in common use are outlawed in ILLinois, the victim of a firearm theft should be protected under the 5th Amendment from self-incrimination and NOT required to report the majority of thefts due to Jay Bob Pritzker’s un-Constitutional PICA. All sorts of state laws protect illegal aliens yet based on arbitrary flick of the pen whole swaths of legal citizens are made criminals in that same state, ILLinois . The US is in a death tango between left wing lunacy and remaining a Constitutional Republic.
This is exactly it ⬆️. Say you take all the appropriate measures and your gun is still stolen. My dad kept guns locked up but being a smart kid I figured out how to get to them. But also, being a smart kid who had been taught from the moment I could comprehend gun safety I followed all the rules. However, locks won’t stop the problem. Further, I bet many aren’t simply stolen guns as much as they are trafficked.
Yes I keep mine secure. I’m not saying it’s not smart, but this is a waste of time and money to make it law. Educate, educate, educate.
So when someone does figure out how to get the firearm how does the firearm owner prove their innocence when the second the gun is in someone else’s hands they are a criminal?
Yep, Jay Bob Pritzker just wants to incrementally push for home inspections. There are already laws to punish people who recklessly endanger children. Even with the threat of legal liability, incompetent people do NOT take precautions. As you point out, storage units can be defeated by minors and criminals. I doubt any lives would be saved resulting from this power grab.