Illinois Legislature Attacks the .50 Caliber
During the past week the 50 caliber target rifle has become the focus of
the anti-gun attack by the Illinois State Legislature. As we reported earlier this year
the Illinois legislature introduced an 'Assault Weapons Ban' bill that included the .50 caliber
target rifle as part of the bill. As things developed in the committee hearings,
it appeared there might not be sufficient votes to get that bill passed. Last
week a 2nd bill was introduced on the Senate side of the legislature making
the 50 caliber target rifle a stand alone bill. SB1471 That bill
was voted out of committee and now can be called to the floor of
the IL Senate at any time for a vote.
On the House side of the legislature a similar bill HB873 was voted out
of committee yesterday (along with two other very bad bills) to be voted on
by the House. HB873 is a combined Assault Weapons Ban which includes the 50
caliber target rifle.
Both of these bills have been lobbied heavily by several gun rights organizations with
little effect on the House side, but there are still several members of the
IL Senate who have not made up their minds on how they will vote.
The time to get involved is now!! We are asking all of our members
and every law abiding 50 caliber owner to get involved and contact individual members
of the IL Senate and express your opposition to these bills. This will be
our last opportunity to stand up and get involved in Illinois to try to
prevent this terrible legislation from passing. Now is the time to get involved to
express your disgust with these bills. Call or write to your elected representatives IMMEDIATELY.
If you do not know who your State Senator is, then please go to
the Illinois General Assembly web site at: www.ilga.gov and click the "Legislator Lookup" link
located on the lower right corner of the page. If you know who your
Representative is, but would like contact information, the Illinois State Rifle Association
ISRA has
a listing here.
Today is the day we need you to get involved. These people will listen
to their own constituents even if they won't listen to our discussion on the
issues.
We ask all FCI and FCSA members to actively inform their fellow gun-owners
about this latest attack on the Second Amendment rights we all enjoy. Post
this email to forums, forward to your address books, pass on to your gun
club newsletters - anything you can do to help spread the word. Perhaps
a few non-50 owners will help if reminded that their "sniper rifles" (bolt actions
with scopes), "assault weapons" (anything semi-auto, black & ugly) and other .50 cal guns
(.50 AE, .510 DTC, .500 AHR, etc) ARE NEXT. Use California as an
example, where even Olympic competition .22 pistols haven't been safe.
John Burtt, Chmn
FCI
