Executive Directors Message
Richard Pearson
As you may know, the Illinois State Rifle Association, Second Amendment Foundation, and the Firearms Policy Coalition has filed a lawsuit against the so-called “assault weapons“ ban signed into law by Governor Pritzker on January 10, 2023. The lawsuit was filed in the United State District Court for the Southern District of Illinois (Benton) on January 17, 2023. The lawsuit is known as Harrel v Raoul. Below is the official press release:
January 18, 2023, Chatsworth, IL—Late Tuesday evening, lawful gun owners from around the State of Illinois, along with the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA), the Firearms Policy Coalition Inc., and the Second Amendment Foundation, filed a federal lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, the Director of the Illinois State Police Brendan F. Kelly, and numerous Illinois States Attorneys challenging Illinois’ new law.
On January 10, 2023, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed legislation that enacted an extensive ban on firearms and high-capacity magazines in the state. Plaintiffs say the new law infringes on the rights of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear commonly possessed firearms and ammunition magazines for the defense of self and family and other lawful purposes.
“Governor Pritzker and the legislators who voted for this law did this for self-serving political purposes and are not upholding the United States Constitution,” said Richard Pearson, Executive Director of the ISRA. “The 2nd Amendment is fundamentally about self-defense, and the 14th Amendment is about not having our rights infringed. This new law makes criminals out of law-abiding citizens.
“The real problem is that there are existing gun laws that do not work because they are not enforced,” Pearson added. “We would all be much safer if the police had the resources they need, and there were stronger consequences for the non-law-abiding citizens.”
A resident of St. Clair County and two Illinois gun stores join the three non-profit organizations seeking declaratory and injunctive relief.
The ISRA is represented by the Law Firm of David G. Sigale, P.C. of Wheaton, IL
The entire lawsuit can be viewed here:
The lawsuit asks for a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction against each Defendant, each Defendant’s respective employees, officers, agents, representatives, and all those acting in concert or participation with him or her, from enforcing the Illinois ban on semiautomatic firearms and standard capacity magazines…….. There is more to it, but this is the essence of the lawsuit. Please read the lawsuit for more details.
I would like to thank not only the attorneys who put this lawsuit together but also the gallant men and women of the ISRA who through their membership and volunteerism have made the ISRA a force to be reckoned with in the fight for freedom. I appreciate each and every one of you.
Tuesday night, I attended and spoke briefly at a Town Hall meeting in Marion, Illinois. The meeting was presented by Senators Dale Fowler, Senator Terri Bryant and Representatives David Severin, Patrick Windhorst, David Friess, Paul Jacobs, and Charles Meier. The topic was HB5471 and its ramifications to the law-abiding gun owners. Several sheriffs and many deputy sheriffs also attended. The Marion Civic and Cultural Center was packed with 500 people or more attending.
The elected officials presented the program on HB5471. None of them voted for the bill. I would characterize the mood of the crowd as dark. They were, and are, not happy with the General Assembly or the Governor. This time, I believe the General Assembly and the Governor have crossed the line. Right now, the number of sheriffs who will not enforce the provisions of HB5471 stands at 83, and 10 are opposed to the bill. While the Governor says he will fire any officer of the law who will not enforce HB5471, he needs to learn you can’t fire elected officials. If we could, we would fire the Governor.
While some are criticizing the sheriffs, I do not. In the United States Military, no one has to follow an illegal order. I view HB5471 as an illegal bill. Those who voted for it and the Governor who signed it violated their oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States. To order law enforcement to enforce the provisions of HB5471 is an illegal order in my view. Enough said.
A new homeowner was surprised by a person breaking into his new home of only a few months. As it turned out, the home invader was a previous occupant of the home and thought his former significant other was living there. Pattrick O’Brine, who had an order of protection against him from his former significant other, broke into the home at 2am. The new occupants were a man, a woman, and the woman’s 10 year old son. The man was armed and, of course, was protecting the woman, child and himself. The male occupant shot and killed O’Brine. The lessons here are two. First, you never know when or who is going to threaten your life. You need to be ready. You may have done nothing and get caught in one of these incidents. This is not new. Years ago, a couple of wonderful people I knew were broken into by people who got the wrong house. They were beaten but survived. The second lesson here is that if you have an order of protection against someone, you need to arm yourself. An order of protection is only a piece of paper, it doesn’t stop anything.
The Winter Wars XIX event that was scheduled for January 17th, has been rescheduled to February 11th, 2023, at the ISRA Range. This is a fun match for military surplus rifles, shot at 200 yards from the prone position on a military head and shoulders silhouette (the so-called Sitting Dog target).
Tidbits:
January 19,1915 – Two German zeppelins drop 90 incendiary bombs on London killing 7 people and wounding 30. The main damage was psychological, spreading terror though Londoners. Zeppelins are lighter-than-air and were filled with hydrogen gas. They could fly above the ceiling limit of British fighter planes. Soon, as many as 42 zeppelin bombers were hitting London.
Later in 1916, the British had fighter planes that could reach the altitude of the zeppelins. Because they were filled with hydrogen gas, tracer and incendiary bullets caused the highly explosive hydrogen to ignite. Exploding zeppelins could be seen for 100 miles. In the end, zeppelins killed 700 citizens and wounded 2000 more. Eventually the British fighter planes shot down 77 of the German 115 zeppelin armada. The zeppelin attacks did not break the spirit of the Londoners. In fact, it had the opposite effect.
January 20, 1981 – The Iran hostage crisis ends moments after newly elected President Ronald Reagan took the oath of office. After 444 days of captivity, 52 U.S. hostages were released. I remember those days well as I was always glued to the TV. Jimmy Carter was the weakest President we have ever had. Weakness always leads to crises especially on the international stage, as we are learning again.
January 23, 1855 – John Moses Browning, famed American firearm inventor, is born in Ogden, Utah. He was the son of John Browning who was a gunsmith in Nauvoo, Illinois. John Moses Browning worked on designing firearms. He first made a wooden working model of the firearm. Once he had made the real thing, he burned the wooded prototype. He made lever and slide action designs but couldn’t come up with an idea of how to make a firearm work without manual operation of some type. In 1889, he watched reeds blow when guns were fired. He decided to try to harness the gasses that gunpowder produced to make a firearm operate. Three years later, J. M. Browning received a patent for a crude system that would automatically load and fire round after round, the first automatic firearm. Browning went on to design machine guns that are used to this day. Most interesting is that no significant advances in firearm designs have been introduced since John Moses Browning who died in 1926.
January 23, 1957 – The Wham-O Toy Company produces its first batch of Frisbees. In 1967, they changed the design and added ridges to the Frisbee to make them more stable in flight. By 1977, Wham-O had sold over 100 million Frisbees. Now, several companies produce Frisbees. In 1994, the Mattel Toy Manufacturers bought the toy from Wham-O. No matter who makes the Frisbee, dogs around the world are happy and definitely have a lot of fun.
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Visit www.isra.org
Upcoming Events:
Thursday, January 19 & 26, 2023
Women’s Pistol Team Practice
Saturday, January 21 & 22, 2023
NRA Pistol Instructor Class
Tuesday, January 24 & 31, 2023
Air Gun Practice
Wednesday, January 25, 2023
Pellet Rifle League
Saturday, January 28, 2023
Armed Women of America
Sunday, January 29, 2023
ISRA Academy NRA Basic Pistol Class
Gun & Trade Shows
Northern IL Outdoor Sports Show – Grayslake, IL
Lake County Fairgrounds
Dates: January 19 & 20, 2023
Hours: Thursday & Friday: 12:00-8:00
Saturday & Sunday: 10:00-5:00
Admission: $10.00
Bloomington Hunting, Trade & Gun Show – Bloomington, IL
Interstate Center
Dates: January 21 & 22, 2023
Hours: Saturday: 9:00-4:00
Sunday: 9:00-3:00
Admission: $7.00
Kankakee Gun & Sportsman’s Show – Kankakee, IL
Kankakee County Fairgrounds
Dates: January 21 & 22, 2023
Hours: Saturday: 8:00-3:00
Sunday: 8:00-2:00
Admission: $6.00
Sauk Trail Gun Show – Princeton, IL
Bureau County Fairgrounds
Dates: January 28 & 29, 2023
Hours: Saturday: 8:30-4:00
Sunday: 8:30-3:00
Admission: $5.00
Lake County Gun & Sportsman Show – Antioch, IL
Antioch VFW
Date: January 29, 2023
Hours: Sunday: 8:00-1:00
Admission: $7.00
