Illinois residents who already owned high-powered guns when the state ban on those weapons took effect in January can begin registering their firearms this monthwith the Illinois State Police.
Prohibited guns owned prior to the ban were grandfathered in but owners are required to register the weapons by Jan. 1, 2024, under the measure signed into law on Jan. 10 by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Violators can be charged with a misdemeanor for a first offense and felonies for subsequent violations.
Registration began Sunday and must be completed online through a firearm owner’s identification card account from the state police’s Firearms Services Bureau website, www.ispfsb.com. Gun owners will need an email address, driver’s license or state ID, and FOID card to create an account.
A video on how to register by submitting what is called an endorsement affidavit through a FOID card account was made available on the state police website on Sunday.
Gun owners will be required to list the make, model, caliber and serial number of their firearms in the affidavit, which will contain a warning that entering false information is “punishable as perjury.”
State police said there are roughly 2.4 million FOID card holders in Illinois. It’s not known how many people possess guns that are now banned but would be grandfathered in under the law.
The state’s gun ban has been the subject of several legal challenges from gun rights advocates who argue it violates equal protection rights under the Illinois Constitution and the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment.
A federal challenge on Second Amendment grounds is pending before a federal appeals court in Chicago. The ban has withstood state lawsuits, with the Illinois Supreme Court upholding the law in August.
How the law’s gun registration requirements will be enforced remains to be seen. Earlier this year, an estimated 90 of Illinois’ 102 county sheriffs issued letters stating they “believe that (the new gun law) is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” and that they wouldn’t enforce it.
The gun ban, spurred by a mass shooting on the Fourth of July in 2022 in Highland Park that left seven people dead and dozens more injured, prohibits the delivery, sale, import and purchase of more than 100 so-called assault weapons in the form of semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and handguns. Also banned are the delivery, sale and purchase of high-capacity magazines of more than 10 rounds for long guns and 15 rounds for handguns.
Also, devices that increase the firing rates of a firearm, known as “switches,” to convert them from semi-automatic or automatic weapons, are covered by the ban. Someone in possession could face a felony count for each device.
Source : Chicago Tribune
