MT VERNON, Ill. — More than 300 new laws are now in effect in Illinois, but several sheriffs are refusing to uphold what's become known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
“I’ve deemed it from my understanding of case law as unlawful or valid on its face,” Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard said. “My office will not be taking any action on this.”
“One of my main concerns is how exactly is this going to make this community safer,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said.
The law effectively banned more than 170 models of guns and high-capacity magazines.
“I believe this law violates our constitutional right to keep and bear arms more than any other law I’ve seen in 30 years in law enforcement,” Campbell said.
To comply with the law, Illinois' 2.4 million FOID card holders need to register a banned weapon with the Illinois State Police.
According to Illinois State Police, fewer than 30,000 gun owners registered their guns.
“We’re going to take law-abiding citizens and make them criminals because of a decision they have to make,” Campbell said.
Failing to register a banned weapon will lead to a misdemeanor charge on the first offense and a felony charge on the second offense.
“I notified the chiefs in my county that if the only charge they have against somebody is that they failed to register their weapon we will not be accepting them into our jail,” Campbell said.
However, the way Illinois law is currently written a felony charge for an unregistered weapon isn’t a jailable offense under the SAFE-T Act.
“The only time we will house someone that is charged with that is if they happened to be charged with a violent crime and it’s an add-on charge,” Bullard said.
The Protect Illinois Communities Act already faces numerous legal challenges.
“My hope is that this would hurry up and get to the U.S. Supreme Court and let them weigh in on this,” Campbell said. “That would be the law of the land.”
“Even if the Supreme Court did uphold it and overturn those cases, we all know like 90% of it, that’s not going to change our position,” said Sheriff Bullard. “We know what the constitution says. We know what people’s rights are. We’re going to stand very firm on our position on it.”
Illinois State Police will be enforcing the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
The decision to charge anyone found in violation of the Protect Illinois Communities Act is left up to individual State Attorneys.
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