Tag: illinois

Signs of Civil Disobedience in Illinois Gun Registration Efforts

There’s just a little more than a month left before Illinois gun owners must register their so-called assault weapons with the state police or risk the possibility of criminal charges if they’re caught with their modern sporting rifle, and so far it looks like many gun owners are willing to run that risk. As of November 21st, fewer than 3,500 gun owners have registered some 6,600 newly banned firearms with the state police; about 0.001 percent of the state’s 2.4 million legal gun owners.

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So far state officials are downplaying the lack of compliance, suggesting there’ll be a flood of new registrations as we get closer to the January 1 deadline.

On Oct. 31, when about 2,000 people had registered their grandfathered-in assault weapons about a month into the policy being in effect, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said the registration process had been “slow but steady.”

“We’ll just see how the process continues to work and we’ll share the data as we continue on a daily basis to do so,” Kelly said during an unrelated event in Springfield.

Two days later in Lake Forest, Gov. J.B. Pritzker downplayed any suggestion that not enough people owning the prohibited guns were registering them, saying it was too early to make such an assessment and suggesting registration would pick up closer to Jan. 1.

“I can tell you, at least for me, that I think all of us take our time sometimes when we know the deadline is two-and-a-half months (away), that we’ll find the time eventually to go online, which is what they need to do and to register as they’re required to do,” Pritzker said.

Maybe Pritzker’s right, but if I were him I wouldn’t bet his billion-dollar fortune on his assumption that gun owners are just waiting for the last minute to comply with the state’s mandate. Sure, some folks may be holding off in the hopes that the federal courts will put a halt to the Illinois law before the reporting requirements kick in, but with scores of county sheriffs and even some prosecutors saying that they don’t plan on proactively enforcing the “assault weapons” ban my guess is that when the deadline rolls around there are still going to be an awful lot of gun owners who haven’t informed the state that they possess a now-banned rifle, pistol, or shotgun.

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After Pritzker signed the gun ban into law, an estimated 90 of Illinois’ 102 county sheriffs issued letters stating they “believe that (the new gun law) is a clear violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” and that they wouldn’t enforce it.

At public hearings in Springfield and Chicago earlier this month, state police heard concerns about the ban and its registration requirement from several gun rights advocates. One Republican lawmaker predicted that “hundreds of thousands” people would “absolutely not comply” with registering their weapons.

“We know this public hearing is taking place because (of) the governor and his radical-left agenda,” state Rep. Brad Halbrook, a Shelbyville Republican who is a member of the House Freedom Caucus, a group composed of his chamber’s most conservative legislators, testified before the state police. “He and his Democrat legislators passed this bill and then laid it at your feet to have to deal with it.”

So far Halbrook’s prediction looks to be pretty accurate. The number of registered guns will undoubtedly go up, of course, but I’d still be shocked if there was a big surge in the days before the mandate takes effect. When New York mandated a similar registration of “assault weapons” as part of the SAFE Act in 2013, we saw “massive noncompliance” on the part of gun owners more than two years after the deadline passed. Attorney Paloma Capanna had to sue the state police to get the numbers, and learned that just 44,000 guns out of an estimated 1 million “assault weapons” had been registered with the state police.

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Illinois Family Files Lawsuit After Police Execute Wrong-Door Raid and Allegedly Detain Them for 6 Hours

A family in Joliet, Illinois, says they were terrorized by police, held at gunpoint, and detained for six hours after officers executed a search warrant on the wrong house.

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed Wednesday by the law offices of Al Hofeld Jr. accuses the town of Joliet and nearly two dozen police officers of unlawful search, excessive force, false arrest, and conspiracy, among other rights violations.

On November 2, 2021, 62-year-old Adela Carrasco and her family were awakened by the sound of banging and shouting at their front door. Carrasco, whom her lawsuit says suffers from asthma and uses a cane due to a hip injury, hobbled toward the door to see what the commotion was.

Carrasco discovered 21 armed law enforcement officers from the Joliet Police Department, Will County Sheriff’s Office, and U.S. Marshals Service. The officers were investigating a deadly Halloween-night shooting two days prior and had decided to execute an outstanding warrant for 18-year-old Elian Raya, one of Carrasco’s grandsons.

“I asked them to show me a warrant; they didn’t show me nothing. They just pushed me aside and went in,” Carrasco said at a press conference Thursday announcing the lawsuit. “And I’m screaming at them the whole time to put down their guns because they’re going to shoot my grandkids.”

The lawsuit says the officers barged into the bedrooms of Carrasco’s grandchildren, who ranged in age from 12 to their early twenties, and pointed guns at them while shouting obscenities.

There was only one problem: The search warrant for Raya listed his address as 226 South Comstock. Carrasco lived at 228 South Comstock. The building is a duplex with two separate front entrances, both with addresses clearly marked.

The lawsuit alleges that although officers knew or quickly realized that they were not in the right unit, they continued to ransack Carrasco’s house, cutting open couch cushions, flipping mattresses, and dumping drawers. 

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Illinois Man Killed Muslim Boy, 6, In Hate Crime Motivated By Israeli-Hamas War, Police Say

On 10/14/2023 at approximately 11:38 AM, deputies with the Will County Sheriff’s Office were sent to a residence located near the 16200 block of S. Lincoln Highway in Unincorporated Plainfield Township regarding a stabbing that occurred involving a landlord and renter. When police personnel arrived on scene they located the suspect, Joseph M. Czuba (age 71) of Plainfield sitting upright outside on the ground near the driveway of the residence. Joseph Czuba had a laceration to his forehead and was later transported to a local area hospital for treatment.

Deputies located two victims inside the residence in a bedroom. Both victims had multiple stab wounds to their chest, torso, and upper extremities. Both victims were transported to a local area hospital for treatment. The thirty-two (32) year-old female was transported in serious condition and had over a dozen stab wounds to her body. The female victim is recovering from her injuries at a local area hospital and is expected to survive this brutal attack.

It was initially reported to police personnel that the juvenile victim was eight-years-old. That initial information was incorrect, and juvenile victim is six (6) years-old. The six-year-old male was transported to the hospital in critical condition. The boy later succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced deceased by a doctor. On 10/15/2023, an autopsy was conducted on the six-year-old victim. The forensic pathologist conducting the autopsy removed the knife from the abdomen of the boy at that time. The six-year-old boy was stabbed twenty-six (26) times throughout his body. The knife used in this attack is a twelve-inch serrated military style knife that has a seven-inch blade.

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Weed Is Legal in Illinois. Police Searched His Car Anyway.

In June 2022, police in Illinois pulled over Prentiss Jackson for driving without his lights on. An officer with the Urbana Police Department subsequently claimed he could smell “a little bit of weed” coming from the car, leveraging that to search Jackson’s vehicle and ultimately kicking off a legal odyssey that would result in an 84-month sentence in federal prison.

At the officer’s request, Jackson handed over two grams of unburnt cannabis he kept in a baggie in his glove box. Possessing up to 30 grams is permissible under Illinois law. 

But when the officer demanded Jackson exit the vehicle, he ran—dropping a gun in the process. Prentiss was charged with possessing a firearm as a felon. Although Jackson sought to suppress the evidence from that search—invoking Illinois’ legal cannabis threshold and alleging that the officer lacked probable cause—Judge James E. Shadid of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois came down in favor of police, ruling that Jackson had run afoul of the state requirement to keep marijuana in an odor-proof container.

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Illinois Concert This Weekend Will Be State’s First To Allow On-Site Marijuana Consumption

Music fans heading to Mundelein, Illinois, this weekend will make history as part of the state’s first-ever concert to allow open marijuana consumption. Headliners, fittingly, include the cannabis-friendly artists Cypress Hill, Stephen Marley and Action Bronson.

Kicking off Saturday afternoon, the two-day Miracle in Mundelein festival will feature complimentary rolling papers, lighters and grinders, as well as dab bars and rolling stations for use by attendees. Marijuana products themselves will be available for sale through a retailer located next door.

Consuming cannabis will be allowed anywhere inside the 21+ event, while using marijuana outside the perimeter fence is strictly forbidden. Organizers say it’s an opportunity for the cannabis crowd to lead by example.

“Let’s show everyone what a responsible and respectful community we are by adhering to these rules and regulations,” the website for the event says.

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University to undergo free speech training, pay $80,000 in settlement for allegedly issuing ‘no-contact orders’ against student, instructing peers to report her ‘harmful’ Christian, political views

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville will pay $80,000 in a recent settlement agreement with a graduate student who accused the school of wrongfully issuing “no-contact orders” against her and instructing her peers to report her “harmful rhetoric.”

Maggie DeJong and Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit against the school after the student claimed she was discriminated against for sharing her Christian and conservative political views.

Three of the school’s professors have been ordered to undergo First Amendment training as part of the settlement agreement. Additionally, the university has been required to revise its policies and student handbook to protect students’ political, religious, and ideological views.

In February 2022, school officials issued “no-contact orders” against DeJong after some of her peers reported her comments about religion, politics, critical race theory, Black Lives Matter, Marxism, censorship, COVID-related regulations, and the criminal justice system.

Students accused DeJong of “harassment” and “discrimination,” claiming her rhetoric had “harmed and offended” them, according to the ADF’s lawsuit.

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Illinois Law Now Forces Landlords to Rent and Sell Property to Illegal Immigrants Amidst Soaring Urban Housing Costs

Illinois has passed a law requiring landlords to open their doors to illegal immigrants.

As housing costs spiral out of control, particularly in large metropolitan areas such as Chicago, this new mandate is set to potentially increase the pool of renters by tens of thousands.

On June 30, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed SB 1817 into law, amending the Illinois Human Rights Act to include “immigration status” as a protected class, Breitbart reported.

This legislation makes it a civil rights violation in the state of Illinois to ‘discriminate’ against a person based on their immigration status in a wide range of real estate transactions. Key areas covered by the law include:

  1. Refusal to engage in a real estate transaction, including sale, rental, or lease, based on a person’s immigration status.
  2. Altering the terms, conditions, or privileges of a real estate transaction due to a person’s immigration status.
  3. Refusing to receive or transmit a bona fide offer from a person based on their immigration status.
  4. Misrepresenting property availability or refusing to allow a person to inspect property due to their immigration status.
  5. Creating or distributing any communication that expresses a preference, limitation, or discrimination based on immigration status related to real estate transactions.
  6. Refusing to engage in loan modification services based on a person’s immigration status or discriminating in making such services available.
  7. Encouraging the sale, lease, or listing of property based on the notion that the value of the property has or will decrease due to the immigration status of people living in the vicinity.
  8. Intentionally causing alarm to induce property sale or lease based on the immigration status of persons entering the vicinity of the property.

“This law sets clear boundaries, protecting the rights of immigrants and ensuring that financial institutions and service providers cannot engage in discriminatory practices,” said Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights). “Putting these protections in place will promote fairness to ensure people are not unjustly denied housing.”

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Illinois to Allow Noncitizens Access to Standard Driver’s License Regardless of Immigration Status

Under House Bill 3882, signed by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker on Friday , immigrants in the state will now have access to standard driver’s licenses that can be used for identification with or without permission from U.S. immigration authorities.

The current “Temporary Visitor Driver’s License” (TVDL) will be phased out. While TVDLs look similar to a standard driver’s licenses, they contain a purple strip across the top that reads “TVDL” and specifies that the it is not valid for identification.

Capital News Illinois reports:

“This legislation is a significant step in eliminating the barriers to opportunity that many undocumented immigrants face,” Pritzker said in a statement. “We’re ensuring every eligible individual can obtain a driver’s license, making our roads safer, decreasing stigma, and creating more equitable systems for all.”

TVDLs look similar to a standard driver’s licenses, except they have a purple strip across the top that reads “TVDL” above the words “NOT VALID FOR IDENTIFICATION.” Under the new law, those people will qualify for standard licenses that carry the words “Federal Limits Apply” at the top, but which do not qualify as REAL ID for travel purposes.

Immigrant rights advocates say the purple bar on the TVDL stigmatizes the people holding them, creates barriers to other kinds of services that require identification such as picking up medication from a pharmacy or signing an apartment lease, and exposes them to law enforcement action.

Although many in the state  are increasingly outraged by how the crisis brought on by Joe Biden’s broken border policy is being addressed, Illinois continues to provide bills to allow migrants perks regardless of immigration status.

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Illinois Gives $300,000 to BLM Group That Appears to Be Inactive

Despite being crime ridden, over-taxed and hemorrhaging citizens (and their tax dollars) in favor of red states, Illinois apparently has enough money to provide $300,000 to a BLM group that appears to be mostly inactive.

A recent Wirepoints analysis of Internal Revenue Service migration data shows the exodus from the state.

This comes at a time that Chicago’s public pension system is in dire straits.

According to a report from Equable Institute, Chicago’s core public pensions, which include municipal, laborers, police, fire and the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, hold more debt than 44 states with a combined pension debt of nearly $48 billion.

Yet lawmakers thought this was a good time to include a $300,000 grant to Black Lives Matter Lake County, a group that critics suggest appears to be mostly inactive,  and is headed by a leader that is alleged to have had  run-ins with police.

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Proposed Illinois Bill Seeks To Criminalize Parental Discipline As ‘Parental Bullying’

As if things were not out of hand enough with California’s latest proposed bill implying that the suspension of disruptive students is somehow racist, Democrats in Illinois have introduced a bill that would criminalize parents who “knowingly, with intent to discipline or alter the behavior of a child, says or messages anything that would coerce the child.” In other words, the proposed legislation would classify the appropriate disciplining of children by parents as ‘parental bullying’ and would criminalize the act. And to think California’s legislation seemed outrageous.

The bill was introduced by State Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and states the following:

Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Creates the offense of parental bullying. Provides that a parent or legal guardian of a minor commits parental bullying when he or she knowingly and with the intent to discipline, embarrass, or alter the behavior of the minor, transmits any verbal or visual message that the parent or legal guardian reasonably believes would coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to the minor. Provides that parental bullying is a petty offense. Provides that if a person is convicted of parental bullying, the court shall order that person to pay for the costs of prosecution and that a portion of any fine imposed, as determined by the court, be placed in escrow for the purchase of a certificate of deposit for use by the victim when he or she attains 18 years of age.

The bill was introduced back in December but, not surprisingly, does not have any additional sponsors.

The measure would, in effect, make being a successful parent a crime. As written above, a parent would be subjected to a petty offense and required to pay court costs and a fine if found guilty of yelling at their child for fighting with a sibling, throwing food at the table, or not doing their homework. It would be the end of the angry mom glare across the room when she catches her child doing something inappropriate. The list is endless and blurs so many lines that parents would live in constant fear of being arrested for being, well, parents.

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