The Super Bowl taught us all a lesson if we are willing to learn.  I am not what you could call a football fan.  I was once.  I even had season tickets to the Chicago Bears but when they traded away their Super Bowl Championship team, I mailed the tickets back with specific instructions on what to do with them.  Fans of professional sports teams are only a means to an end for the owners.

Back to the lesson: In the weeks prior to the Super Bowl, the sports talking heads were explaining why the Philadelphia Eagles had the advantage (on paper).  Gamblers were giving the Eagles a 4, 6, or even 10-point advantage.  The lesson is that a football game is not played on paper; it is played on a field with human beings.  There are many things like that in the world we live in.  It is up to each of us to make the outcomes we want, not to blindly accept what others tell you the outcome will be.

All the lawsuits that deal with the State of Illinois’ so-called “assault weapons” ban will be brought together under the ISRA lawsuit Harrel et al v Raoul et al.  The due date for the Defendants to respond is March 2, 2023.

On February 13, 2023, Judge Stephen P. McGlynn issued the following Order:

Within is the response to (16) Motions for a Preliminary Injunction, Defendants shall provide illustrative examples of each and every banned firearm under 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9.  Signed by Judge Stephen P. McGlynn on 2/13/2023.

It is my guess that the 170 firearms banned in HB5471 was blindly adopted from a list from one of the anti-gun groups and never researched by anyone in the General Assembly.  Most of the people involved in HB5471 wouldn’t know one of the listed firearms if they tripped over it in broad daylight.

Currently, there has been no movement in the other ISRA lawsuits.

The lame stream media and the left-wing politicians have done a great job misleading the American public regarding crime and firearms.  Researcher John Lott recently published an article entitled “When Misinformation Drives Bad Policy”.  The article appeared in Real Clear Politics and was later reprinted in the California Rifle and Pistol Association’s magazine and exposes the depth of the misinformation about firearms and crime.  In a survey of 1000 likely voters, an average of 46% of the time people believe that firearms are involved in violent crime.  Before you read any further, make a note of what you think that percentage is in your mind.  Don’t peek at the rest of this article before you note your opinion.

The survey found that Democrats think that firearms are involved in violent crime 56.9% of the time. Republicans believe that number to be 37%.  Those who make over $250,000 per year or work for the government, believe that number to be 56.1%.  Women think that number is 50%.  Men think that number is 43%.  There are other break downs in the article if you care to look.

In the year 2020, the latest year for which the latest crime statistics are available, the U.S. Department of Justice National Crime Victimization Survey shows there were 4,558,150 rapes, robberies, aggravated assaults, and 21,570 murders.  That is a total of 4,579,720 violent crimes.  Of these crimes, firearms were involved 364,080 times.  That amounts to a little over 7.94%, nothing anywhere near the number people think.

This, of course, is done on purpose by the left-wing mob that wants to crush private firearms ownership in the United States.  One of the major fights we have is this proliferation of misinformation.   We have to be out in front constantly setting the record straight.  Not easy by any stretch of the imagination.  This is old fashioned “brain washing” at its finest.

In Phoenix, Arizona, 26-year-old Oscar Luna walked into a restaurant and began shooting.  A legally armed citizen shot Luna who was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.  The local media swept the incident under the rug as much as they could.  The defensive use of firearms does not make the kind of news headlines the yellow dog media likes to print.

On a more humorous note, the New York Times is questioning why “Gun Free Zone” signs have not stopped people for illegally carrying firearms in Time Square.  This has to fall under the heading of “How dumb are you anyway?”  Some have said there needs to be a national database of Gun Free Zones, presumably so criminals can look them up online and avoid them.  Folks, you just can’t make up stuff like this.

It is time to start looking at the ISRA website for proposed legislation that will affect your gun rights.   We track both pro-gun and anti-gun bills.  You will notice the website has a new look from last year on the bill tracking page.  We have improved our descriptions and it is easier to read.  ISRA Lobbyist Bill Potts is in charge of keeping an eye on all of these bills.  He is doing a great job.

It won’t be long before it will be time for witness slips.  You might want to go to the tutorials on witness slips on our website if you haven’t filed any before, or to just brush up a little if you have.

The attack on law-abiding citizens owning firearms in both Illinois and Oregon has brought the expected surge in firearm sales.  One Illinois dealer reported handgun sales up 50 percent and the sales of modern sporting rifles up 1000 percent.  The National Instant Check System (NICS) reports that nationally there was a 6.5 percent increase over last year.  Not surprising, considering the threats to citizens’ Second Amendment Rights and increases in the crime rate.

In Florida, HB543, the constitutional carry bill, is already hitting opposition from the lame stream media.  The media is predicting catastrophic results if this bill is passed in Florida, alleging everything just short of the return of the dinosaurs.  They ignore the fact that 25 states already have constitutional carry and the only people suffering are the criminals.  For the record, I don’t care how much criminals suffer, the more the better.  The fact is that concealed carry saves lives.  Hopefully, HB543 will march through the Florida Legislature.

One of the favorite arguments the gun controllers always use is that “if it just saves one life it is worth it”.  That fact is that gun control costs lives.  Approximately 3 to 4 million times a year, armed citizens defend themselves using firearms.  How many of those people would be killed or seriously injured had they not defended themselves?  The anti-gun side does not want you or anyone else to hear those figures.  That is why the anti-gun side pressured the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to stop reporting those numbers.  They, of course, got help from the Biden Obamanation Administration.

Twitter is at it again.  This time, Montana Senator Steve Daines and his wife were tossed into Twitter Jail for posting a picture of a pronghorn antelope they shot on a hunting trip.  Senator Daines had to appeal to the highest Twitter authority, Elon Musk, to bail him out, which he did.  I grew up hunting; for me, it was a way of life.  It is also a way to put really healthy food on the table.  In many parts of the country, hunting supplements is the primary source of protein for many.  Hopefully, Elon Musk will continue to level the Twitter playing field.

Don’t forget IGOLD is scheduled for Wednesday, March, 29. You will receive a mailing on IGOLD soon.  IGOLD will be at the Bank of Springfield Center again this year.  The doors will open at 10:30am and the program will start at 11:30am.  The march to the Capitol will begin at 1:00pm sharp.  We should be done by 3:00pm.

I know some groups are talking about bringing buses.  That is great.  We need to know If you are bringing a bus because we have to arrange for parking.  The ISRA will pay for the parking, but we need to know as soon as possible.