by The other controversy that seemed to hang over the NRA Annual Meeting was the report that the Illinois Firearms Manufacturers Association had gone neutral on an anti-gun bill in the Illinois General Assembly. The bill would add state oversight and licensing to gun dealers and manufacturers in addition to Federal oversight from BATFE. In exchange for going neutral on the bill, manufacturers were dropped from the bill which then passed the Illinois Senate. The vote there was 30-21 on the day before the Annual Meeting got started.
According to press releases sent out on Monday, there were unaware of what their lobbyist was doing. It got worse when it was reported that IFMA had made contributions to anti-gun politicians who used that money to defeat pro-gun candidates.
Both Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms evidently recognized the PR nightmare was getting worse and announced their resignations from IFMA. They obviously were determined not to be the next Smith & Wesson circa Year 2000.
Last night I received multiple emails from Springfield Armory asking people to contact their Illinois state representative to vote against SB 1657. I see this as an excellent move on Springfield Armory’s part. They are finally taking a pro-active stand. In case the link didn’t come through below, it is here.
Illinois House of Representatives may consider Senate Bill 1657,
legislation that could put state gun dealers out of business, at any
time!It is imperative you share this with friends and family living in Illinois and strongly urge them to OPPOSE SB 1657!
SB
1657 would create onerous mandatory regulations, fees potentially in
the thousands of dollars and excessive amounts of red tape that would
almost assuredly force the closure of many firearm dealers, and prevent
prospective owners from opening new ones. The federal Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) already licenses and
closely monitors all federally licensed firearm dealers (FFLs) and
strictly enforces any violation of federal law.SB 1657 goes far beyond federal law and is designed to shut down as many FFLs as possible.Again,
please click the “Take Action” button above to contact your state
Representative and urge them to strongly oppose SB 1657! Stay tuned to www.nraila.org for further updates on this bill.
Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms have resigned from that awful IFMA?
SA and RRA ARE the IFMA.
Of the four top executive positions in the IFMA, three are filled by the owners of SA and RRA. The fourth is their hired lobbyist.