We have learned that the Kathleen Willis FOID Card Bill (SB1966) is scheduled to be voted on in one of the upcoming Veto Sessions. The first Veto Session is scheduled for October 28, 29, and 30.  The second Veto Session is scheduled for November 12, 13 and 14.  There is enough time before either session for things to change, but there is very little time to get ready should the vote come in one of these sessions.   I encourage all firearm owners to attend every possible town hall meeting you possibly can this summer, fall and winter.  The same is true for every gun club meeting, gun show and wherever gun owners gather.  The fact is the fight is on and the antigunners are out for blood. In a Town Hall meeting held on Tuesday June 11th Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) was even willing to use the word “confiscation.”

Talk about SB1966 everywhere you can to everyone you can.  Various segments of gun owners used to sit back because they didn’t think these proposed laws pertained to them.  Some just thought they would be quiet and slip under the radar. I never understood how they were going to do that but that was their attitude.

It is clear, that no law-abiding gun owner, of any kind, is left out.  Bills like SB19666, The Ammo Tax Bill and the lead shot ban resolution should make it clear that no one is left out.

The antigun side is well organized and financed. Micheal Bloomberg and others are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the fight against the Second Amendment. The only way we’re going to win this fight is to stay organized and stay together.  There are nearly 2,300,000 FOID Card holders in Illinois and at last count there were only 25,858 Illinois State Rifle Association members, just barely over one percent.

On Tuesday, June 11, the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois determined it would hear the case of People of the State of Illinois v Vivian Claudine Brown. This case is an appeal by the Illinois Attorney General of a case from White County Illinois, where a Circuit Judge ruled that the FOID Card requirement was unconstitutional.  Ms. Brown had a single shot .22 rifle for self-defense but did not have a FOID Card.  She was not otherwise a prohibited person. The ISRA is assisting MS Brown in her defense.

On a much happier note the ISRA Range has developed a Military Bench Rest League.  There are a lot of people who can no longer get into traditional rifle shooting positions but still like to shoot M-I’s, M-I carbine’s , 1903 Springfields and others Just for fun.  If you are one of these people the Military Bench Rest League may be for you.

The match is simple.  We use an “Army A” target which is the old 5V target. The match consists of 35 total shots at 100 yards.  There are five sighting shots in five minutes to get your zero.  Then comes the slow fire portion of the match which is 10 shots in 10 Minutes.  Each shot is loaded one at a time.  The timed fire portion of the match is 10 shots in two minutes.  The clips or magazines must be loaded with two shots and eight shots of five and five depending on what you are shooting.  So, this requires a clip or magazine change. The last portion of the match is rapid fire.  Rapid fire has a 90 second time limit.  Once again, the clips or magazines are loaded two and eight of five and five depending on what you are shooting.   Remember this is all from the Bench Rest portion.  This is for fun and it truly is fun.   Bad eyes, bad back, bad knees or bad neck, no problems – you will fit right in.  The cost is $10 for the league fee and $5 per match. The last night, which is in September, we will shoot and go to Fran’s on 17 had have a wrap up meeting and dinner from the proceeds.  The rest we will donate to the ISRA Range.  This league is held on Mondays on Range 5.

Please be there at 3:30pm for the 4pm relay and by 4:30pm for the 5pm relay.

June 6th was the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.  Soldiers from the United States, Canada and Great Britain were engaged in the greatest waterborne invasion in history. They were assaulting Hitler’s Atlantic Wall.  To give you an idea of what it involved to do the D-Day Operation, there were 11,590 aircraft, 6939 vessels, 132,715 allied troops, 196,700 sailors and 7,000,000 tons of supplies, including 450,000 tons of ammunition.  By June 11, the Allies had landed 326,537 troops, 54,186 vehicles and 104,428 tons of supplies.  The troops began the arduous and deadly job of pushing deeper and deeper in France, hedge row by hedge row.

Also, on June 6, 1944, ships were leaving Pearl Harbor for the invasion of Saipan.  The United States was in a two-front war.  We were winning and would continue to win but the costs would be high.  The determination and bravery of these men and women was so exceptional that they earned the name   The Greatest Generation.

There was no one who went untouched by WWII.  Although I was a small boy, I became aware of the sacrifices made by these men and women.  One of my first memories was a float my dad and others members of the American Legion made for a 4th of July parade.  On one half of the float was a farmstead neatly portrayed, complete with a white house, red barn and other outbuildings.  On the other half of the float was the same farmstead burned and destroyed by war.  Memorial Days were also important, solemn occasions.  My mother and many other women would gather at the American Legion and hand make sprays of fresh flowers to be placed on every veteran grave.  Many of these women were widows and wives of those who served in WWI as well as WWII.

All of these wonderful women had suffered also.  They were their own support group and took care of each other.  My job, along with a few other kids, was to keep these women supplied with the homegrown flowers that each or these women had brought in from their gardens.  Flowers were grown specifically for the purpose of being used in sprays to decorate the graves.

My mother fretted about the peonies, lilacs, and other flowers being ready on time.  Ferns were used as a base for the other flowers.  They cared deeply about how well the sprays looked, how well the ribbons were placed on them and how much they were all alike.  They all knew that the spray they were working on might be on their own husband’s or son’s grave.  Everyone knew the story and the hardships the others had gone through.

On May 31, 2019, we lost Albert Mampre, age 97, of Skokie Illinois.  Staff Sergeant Mampre was a medic, a member of the famed Band of Brothers and part of Easy Company; he missed his D-Day jump because he was hospitalized with a neck infection.  He soon rejoined Easy Company in Normandy.  He jumped into Holland during Operation Market Garden where he was wounded.  He rejoined Easy Company the night before they pulled out for Bastogne.  He was assigned to the regimental headquarters and worked as a medic in a hospital which was set up in a hotel.  Albert had a front row seat in the Battle of the Bulge.  His character is thought to be the medic that saved the officer portrayed in the fourth episode of Replacements.  His story is featured in the book We Who Are Alive and Remain: Untold Stories from the “Band of Brothers.”

When we passed Concealed Carry, the ISP got $120 for each license.  Since passing Concealed Carry, the ISP has collected in the neighborhood of $39,180,000.  The licenses have started to renew so in the next five years the ISP will collect another $39,180,000, if not more.  We are looking at probably more than $80,000,000.

It is hard to convince me that they are so destitute that they could not have arrested this guy in Aurora.  How did they get the job done in the past?  I don’t recall seeing police officers stop and pry off hubcaps to panhandle nickels, dimes and quarters from passing motorists for gas money to go and catch bad guys.

Don’t get me wrong, I am for funding the ISP but I don’t want them overfunded either.  If you think idle hands are tools of the devil try giving the ISP or any police departments millions they don’t need.

The Second Amendment is a fundamental right.  A few years ago, there was a debate over a Voter ID bill which would have cost each person $10.  That was deemed too much.  So why isn’t a $200, $300 or $400 FOID card too much?  This is going to make a mighty interesting court case.

For a long time, many gun owners in Illinois lived under the delusion that whenever politicians talked about taking people’s guns or limiting access to firearms, they were talking about someone else, certainly not me or my friends.  Of course, the anti-gun politicians made it sound that way.  SB1966 HCA 1 should have wiped away that delusion.  The fact is every firearm owner and their friends and family are in the anti-gunners’ crosshairs.  I would recommend renewing your FOID card early or applying for one immediately if you don’t yet have one.

When the Nazis took Europe, the people did not stand together and they were picked off one by one.  The same is true for gun owners.  All gun owners must stand together now and in the future.  This is a quote from Pastor Martin Niemoller who witnessed what happened prior to and during World War II. It explains it all:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

I expect SB1966 HCA 1 to be called next week.  

Please continue to call your Representatives and nicely voice your opposition.

Thanks for being a member.

If you are not an ISRA member, JOIN today!   See page 45 in this edition of ASO for complete information on membership.

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