As your Sheriff, I wanted to give citizens of Massac County an update on the recent passage of HB 5471, also known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
As your duly elected Sheriff my job and my office are sworn, in fact, to protect the citizens of Massac County. This is a job and responsibility that I take with the utmost seriousness.
Part of my duties that I accepted upon being sworn into office was to protect the rights provided to all of us, in the Constitution. One of those enumerated rights is the right of the people to keep and bear arms provided under the 2nd amendment.
The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people.
I, among many others, believe that HB 5471 is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.
Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official for Massac County, that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State, nor will we be arresting or housing law abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act.
Sheriff Chad Kaylor
More on the Facts of the Bill:
The legislation signed by Governor Pritzker on Tuesday makes Illinois the ninth state to institute ban on assault weapons.
House Bill 5471 bans assault weapons and high-capacity magazines from being manufactured or sold in Illinois. The comprehensive gun safety package also places a ban on rapid-fire devices intended to make semiautomatic firearms fully automatic, and increases the duration of a Firearm Restraining Order from six months to up to one year.
A Firearm Restraining Order allows the family of a gun owner or law enforcement to obtain a civil order temporarily removing the firearm and ammunition from people who pose a risk of harm to themselves or others.
The 68-41 vote on House Bill 5471, the latest version of the Protect Illinois Communities Act, in the Illinois House of Representatives preceded the signature of the governor on the last day of the lame duck session.
The vote was mostly split along party lines but again received support from exiting House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs. The Illinois Senate approved the amendments 34-20 on Monday.
Under the new law, anyone who owns such guns are not required to surrender them, but instead must register them with the State Police. When registering the guns, serial numbers must be provided, which was a provision initially removed by the Senate by restored after House proponents objected to the measure.
Gov. JB Pritzker said in his bill-signing press conference that all Illinoisans will be required to follow the law and that there will be no option for non-compliance.
Commentary on the Bill from Officials and Lawmakers:
Knox County State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin released a statement that the constitutionality of the law is a matter for the courts and the Sheriffs must enforce the law unless otherwise indicated by the legislature.
“The sheriff’s unilateral approach creates a problematic patchwork of enforcement. Apparently, no arrests or investigations regarding violations of the Act will occur in the county, but can still occur within municipalities like Galesburg, Abingdon, or Knoxville. Further, the Sheriff has pledged not to take into the jail those who are arrested in Galesburg or other cities for violation of this Act. Will those people be then housed in different counties at Knox County’s expense or will they just be released in the community? Furthermore, agree with the statute or not, it does give law enforcement another tool to keep firearms out of the hands of individuals whom we all agree ought not have them. It makes little sense to say that tool will not be used in any circumstance…The Sheriff’s conviction regarding the Act should not be allowed to have the effect of law in Knox County. Personally, I agree that the statue has constitutional issues. These need to be decided in a courtroom and not in the back office of the Sheriff’s Department.”
Gun control advocate and former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords — who survived being shot in the head in a mass shooting in 2011 — said in a statement included in the release that assault weapons are built to kill and injure quickly and efficiently.
She applauded Illinois leaders for “having the courage to act to remove these weapons of war from our streets.”
In a statement released by the City of Highland Park — where a gunman opened fire on a July 4th parade in 2022, killing 7 and wounding dozens more — Mayor Nancy Rotering thanked Pritzker for signing the ban.
“Hospitals, high schools, homes, parades, offices – there is no place, geographic or otherwise, that has been spared from the threat of gun violence. Whether it’s ghost guns, high powered semi-automatic rifles, or modified rapid-fire handguns, dangerous weapons are putting families and law enforcement at risk.
After the bill had passed, Pritzker responded, saying “you don’t get to choose which laws you comply with in Illinois,” adding that applies to law enforcement in Illinois too.
State Representative Patrick Windhorst released the following statement upon Governor Pritzker’s signature.
“In light of tonight’s bill signing by Governor Pritzker, law-abiding gun owners will be impacted yet again by the loss of their Second Amendment rights. In the United States of America, we have inalienable rights that are enumerated in our founding documents. These include our Second Amendment rights. Our nation’s founding documents protect rights that are sometimes unpopular. We protect the freedom of speech because sometimes, speech is unpopular. We protect the freedom of religion because some religions are not popular. We protect the freedom of the press, because sometimes, the press is not popular. The rights that we as Americans are promised in the Declaration of Independence and granted in the Constitution have been violated by the passage of this legislation and the signing of it by Governor Pritzker. The Illinois State Rifle Association has promised legal action aimed at stopping the implementation of this law. I support their effort and look forward to a favorable outcome for law-abiding gun owners.”
During debate earlier this week, State Senator and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey called the bill ‘tyrannous.’
The Illinois Sheriffs’ Association released a statement opposing the legislation.
“The ISA is extremely disappointed in the passage and enactment of HB 5471, that further regulates and limits the purchase of a wide variety of weapons for lawful gun owners…We are always supportive of new tools, techniques and laws that assist us in preventing and holding accountable those that wage efforts of harm and violence on others. However, this law does not do that. We will continue to advocate on behalf of Sheriffs, all of law enforcement and the law-abiding citizens throughout Illinois.”
Guns Save Life Executive Director John Boch said it’s unconstitutional and they’ll prove it in court.
“This thing is going to be blocked by sometime early February at the latest, and it’s gonna be done at that point,” Boch told WMAY Wednesday. “There’s already Supreme Court precedent on this. There’s already other states that have tried to do the same thing that have been shut down.”
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