Judge Won't Stop Assault Weapons Registry Before January 1 Deadline
Rifles and ammunition at a gun shop in suburban Tinley Park.
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With under three weeks remaining before the deadline to register assault weapons in Illinois, a federal judge declined to issue a stay in the law. Meanwhile, a state panel declined to approve Illinois State Police rules for the registry with time ticking down before the January 1st deadline.
U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn, a Trump appointee, declined to issue an injunction to stop the deadline to register weapons.
“I think that there’s a mess here and there’s some problems, and I haven’t made my mind up,” McGlynn said during a hearing in his East St. Louis courtroom, according to the Chicago Tribune. “But I do think that entering an injunction today may create more problems than it’s worth.”
Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) also asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put a hold an the deadline. Caulkins has a separate suit challenging the assault weapons ban he has already asked the Supreme Court to take up. Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett reportedly denied the request Wednesday.
State Police said some 20,000 weapons have been registered thus far, though the program has been met with stiff opposition by gun owners and advocates.
Meanwhile, the bi-partisan, bi-cameral Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), failed to adopt permanent rules for administering the registry.
Republicans peppered State Police representatives on how they’re enforcing the rules and how data about gun owners is being gathered, stored, and disseminated.
Emergency rules are still in effect until February, after the January 1 deadline.
“There is no intent on the part of the state police to retain information that we should not retain, so we will be doing everything we can to comply with whatever direction we’re given up to and including, if necessary, applying to delete that information,” said Suzanne Bond, ISP’s acting Chief Legal Counsel.
Gun owners who don’t register their assault weapons by January 1 face misdemeanor charges for a first offense and felony charges for multiple violations.
