It was my honor to speak at the Illinois Gun Owner Lobby Day (IGOLD) in Springfield Wednesday.
It was great to be there with so many fellow gun owners and Second Amendment advocates. Thank you to the Illinois State Rifle Association and all the advocates for STANDING WITH US in defense of our constitutional rights!
One of the House committees I serve on is the Gun Violence Prevention Committee, or as I like to call it, the Gun Grabber Committee. My fellow Republican members and I are the last line of defense for the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
There’s an old saying around the Capitol that a bad bill is never truly dead. The gun grabbers in the Democrat majority want to push through numerous anti-Second Amendment bills:
- HB 3320 – RIFL Act
- HB 4414 – Ammo Tax & Serialization
- HB 4471 – Glock ban
- SB 8 (PA 104-31) – Safe Gun Storage Act
You’ve probably heard about the so-called “Responsibility in Firearms Legislation” or RIFL Act. Opponents estimate the RIFL Act could tack on thousands of dollars in taxes to one firearm purchase, and that would price lower income people out of exercising their Second Amendment rights.
During last week’s hearing on the RIFL Act, one proponent said, “I think poor people don’t benefit from owning firearms.”
What an elitist thing to say. The Second Amendment guarantees everyone the fundamental right to protect themselves, regardless of their income level.
Another gun grabber bill would impose an ammo tax on handgun ammunition and require serialization of all handgun ammunition. This would make criminals out of many law-abiding gun owners who already possess non-serialized ammunition.
The ammo tax represents yet another government overreach targeting law-abiding gun owners while doing nothing to stop actual criminals.
House Bill 4414 treats every Illinois gun owner as a criminal-in-waiting, buries small retailers in new registration mandates, and builds a de facto ammunition ownership registry that privacy-concerned citizens should find alarming.
Sign My Petition to SAY NO TO THE AMMO TAX!
Yet another gun-grabbing bill, House Bill 4471, is a de facto ban on Glock pistols in Illinois. I argued against the Glock ban in committee, stating that Glock switches are already illegal and criminals don’t follow existing gun laws anyway. Banning the sale of Glocks will do nothing to stop crime.
Last year, Governor Pritzker signed the so-called “Safe Gun Storage Act” into law.
Senate Bill 8 imposed new mandates requiring gun owners to store firearms in locked containers when in the presence of minors, prohibited persons, or “at-risk” individuals. The bill was riddled with conflicting provisions and created legal uncertainty for hunters, target shooters, and youth shooting clubs.
I stood up for the Second Amendment rights of hunters and gun owners in opposition to SB 8, which narrowly passed the Illinois House at the end of the 2025 spring session.
With limited debate, I was honored to speak on issues that are near and dear to my heart: hunting, sports shooting, and gun rights.
In a press release accompanying SB 8’s signing, Gov. Pritzker said: “Illinois has been one of the most aggressive states in the nation in combatting the epidemic of gun violence that has plagued our communities for far too long.”
Let’s be perfectly clear about Governor Pritzker’s record on public safety:
- The ‘No SAFE-T Act’ put violent criminals back on our streets.
- Pritzker’s Prisoner Review Board failed victims and released murderers from prison.
- Illinois’ sanctuary state policy makes it much more difficult to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens.
- Pritzker’s gun ban has done nothing to reduce gun violence.
JB Pritzker’s continued attacks on our constitutional rights have put criminals before victims and made our communities less safe. To Governor Pritzker and the Democrat majority, I say Illinois needs crime control, not gun control!
