The story of gun control legislation in Illinois is never ending.
The General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules punted Tuesday on whether to implement proposed rules from the state police on an assault weapons registry.
“Obviously, there have been a lot of questions placed on the record today,” said JCAR’s co-chairman, State Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria). “Some have been answered. Some will require some further research and reporting back to the committee.” Spain said JCAR will revisit the matter at its Jan. 16 meeting.
Josh Witkowski, spokesman for the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, said the administration dragged its feet, then dumped a confusing mess into the lap of the state police. He said as it stands now, a gun used for duck hunting could be called an assault weapon.
A state police spokeswoman said the emergency rules for the registry remain in effect until Feb. 11.
In an emailed statement, the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources said:
Today’s action by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules continues the pattern of confusing and vague implementation of Governor Pritzker’s ban on commonly owned firearms. The Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources has continually warned about how the vague definitions contained in PICA has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands of shotguns in the State of Illinois which are commonly used for hunting purposes. This haphazard implementation has the potential to affect the hundreds of millions of dollars of economic benefit that hunting brings to the State of Illinois. If the experts can’t agree on what the rules are, how is the average outdoor enthusiast supposed to know them? Above al, this confusion will result in criminal convictions of law abiding citizens