Former Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) was asked many years ago by Tucker Carlson if she could define a barrel shroud which was mentioned in her assault weapons (sic) ban bill. She replied that it was that shoulder thing that goes up. We in the gun culture just shook our collective heads at her ignorance yet realized that even stupid stuff can be enacted into law.

State Sen. Antonio Munoz (D-Chicago) who is the Assistant Majority Leader in the Illinois Senate introduced an amendment to a bill (SB 556) that was intended to make technical corrections to Illinois criminal laws. Amendment 1 contains, in part, language intended to institute an assault weapons (sic) ban in the state of Illinois. One wonders if Sen. Munoz picked this bill because of its purpose or its number.

(14) Carries or possesses on or about his or her
person, in any vehicle, or concealed on or about his or her
person any semi-automatic assault weapon.
In this paragraph (14), “semi-automatic assault
weapon” means:
(A) any of the firearms or types, replicas, or
duplicates regardless of caliber, known as:
(i) Norinco, Mitchell, and Poly Technologies
Avtomat Kalashnikovs (all models);
(ii) Action Arms Israeli Military Industries
UZI and Galil;
(iii) Beretta AR-70 (SC-70);
(iv) Colt AR-15;
(v) Fabrique Nationale FN/FAL, FN/LAR, and
FNC;
(vi) SWD M-10, M-11, M-11/9, and M-12;
(vii) Steyr AUG;
(viii) INTRATEC TEC-9, TEC-DC9, and TEC-22; or
(ix) any shotgun which contains its ammunition
in a revolving cylinder, such as (but not limited
to) the Street Sweeper and Striker 12;


(B) a semi-automatic rifle or pump action rifle
that has an ability to accept a detachable magazine and
has any of the following:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
(ii) a pistol grip or thumbhole stock;
(iii) a shroud that is attached to, or
partially or completely encircles the barrel, and
that permits the shooter to hold the firearm with
the non-trigger hand without being burned;


(C) a semi-automatic pistol that has an ability to
accept a detachable magazine and has any of the
following:
(i) a folding, telescoping, or thumbhole
stock;
(ii) a shroud that is attached to, or partially
or completely encircles the barrel, and that
permits the shooter to hold the firearm with the
non-trigger hand without being burned; an
ammunition magazine that attaches to the pistol
outside of the pistol grip;
(iii) a manufactured weight of 50 ounces or
more when the pistol is unloaded; or
(iv) a semi-automatic version of an automatic
firearm;


(D) a semi-automatic rifle or pistol with a fixed
magazine that has the capacity to accept more than 10
rounds of ammunition;


(E) a semi-automatic shotgun that has any of the
following:
(i) a folding or telescoping stock;
(ii) a pistol grip or thumbhole stock;
(iii) a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 5
rounds; or
(iv) an ability to accept a detachable
magazine.


“Semi-automatic assault weapon” does not include:
(A) any firearm that:
(i) is manually prepared by bolt, pump, lever,
or slide action;
(ii) is an unserviceable firearm or has been
made permanently inoperable;
(iii) is an antique firearm; or
(iv) is a rifle with a fixed tubular magazine
located under the barrel that is only capable of
holding rounds of ammunition placed end to end; or
(B) any air rifle as defined in Section 24.8-0.1 of
this Code.

Illinois Carry has issued a call for witness slips to counter this amendment.

Urgent Call to Action Witness Slips Needed Witness Slip Instructions Earlier this evening Amendment 1 to SB556 Criminal Law Tech was scheduled to be heard in the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning at 10:30 AM. If this bill becomes law, it will arbitrarily define and ban possession of “assault weapons” throughout the State of Illinois. Witness Slips Are Needed Now! Please take a moment tonight or early tomorrow morning to show your opposition to this ban on the some of the most commonly owned, modern firearms. And, if you haven’t already filed a witness slip against SB1657 Gun Dealer Licensing, please see the instructions in our IllinoisCarry Forum Alert.  File these slips before tomorrow morning as well! File Witness Slips Now! To avoid having to complete each field manually, Log on to your ILGA Dashboard (or Create a New Account if you have not already done so) then return to this email and click on the links for each witness slip. If you do not wish to create an account, simply click on each witness slip link and complete the required fields manually: I, IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter “NA” for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization. II. REPRESENTATION: Enter “Myself” unless representing an organization. III. POSITION: Unless instructed otherwise for a particular bill leave the description field at its default value “Original Bill”. Indicate your position by selecting the “Proponent” or “Opponent” radio button. IV. TESTIMONY: Select the “Record of Appearance Only” radio button. If filing manually, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement. Then click Create Slip. Oppose SB556 Criminal Law Tech SFA1  – OPPOSE Witness slips can be tracked here.

UPDATE: The Illinois State Rifle Association has also released an alert on this requesting witness slips for both this bill and SB 1657. As I’ve said elsewhere, there is a lot wrong with Illinois politics but I do like the concept of witness slips. A trip to your state capitol during a work week is not doable for most people. Witness slips puts your opposition or approval to a bill in the public record.

From ISRA:

Action Alert – Summary – Two witness slips for Tuesday: SENATE: File a witness slip now through Tuesday 10:30 am (May 16) against SB556, as amended with Senate Floor Amendment 1 (SFA1).  The amendment turns this bill into a semi-auto ban, attempting to ban your favorite rifles and pistols.  Follow carefully any steps in BOLDFACE as they may differ slightly that you may usually see. If you look up this bill on the ILGA website, you have to view the text of the amendment (links provided below) to see that the bill is being converted from a shell bill (“makes a technical change…”) into a gun ban. HOUSE:  If you have not already done so, file Witness Slips NOW Through Tuesday 11:00 am (May 16) against SB1657, Illinois Gun Dealer Licensing. Last month you were also asked to submit a witness slip against this bill, but that was when the bill was in the Senate.  This is for a HOUSE hearing. So please submit a slip again, opposing this bill in the next hearing. Also, please call your Illinois State Representative and politely remind the person that answers the phone that you are urging your representative not to support Illinois Gun Dealer Licensing, SB1657.

SB556  Munoz – SFA1 – Semi-auto and magazine ban This is a ban of your favorite semi-auto firearms and magazines.  This is done by amending an empty piece of legislation (“shell” bill) that has already progressed in the Senate.  If you look up the bill, you have to read the amendment (SFA1) to see its impact. The status page of the bill will not show the new intent of the bill.   Make your voice be heard by submitting a witness slip against this bill in this committee hearing: Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing – 10:30 am on May 16, 2017 SB556  SFA1 Munoz – Semi-auto ban SB1657  Willis – GUN DEALER LICENSING This is the Senate version of the legislation that would force your favorite gun store to close under a mountain of new regulations.  This bill will affect your ability to buy firearms or ammunition in Illinois.  Never mind the weight of all the federal regulations that gun dealers and gun owners must deal with, your retailer and you will have more Illinois regulations and fees now too.    The bill as amended passed out of the Senate on a 30-21 vote and is now headed to a committee hearing in the Illinois House of Representatives. Your continued action is needed against SB1657, make your voice be heard by submitting a witness slip against this bill in this committee hearing: House: Judiciary Criminal Committee Hearing – 11:00 am on May 16, 2017  SB1657  Willis – GUN DEALER LICENSING How to create your witness slips: If you have an account already at my.ilga.gov, go there and login now. If you do not have an account, you are encouraged to do so, to make it easier to fill in witness slips in the future.   At this point, logged in or not, you click on this link to create your witness slip against SB556 SFA1: http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/100498?committeeHearingId=14966&LegislationId=100498 If you are logged in, you get to skip to step III. I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter “NA” for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.   II. REPRESENTATION: Enter “Myself” unless representing an organization.   III. POSITION: 1. Under description, Make sure that SFA1 is selected.  2. Indicate your position by selecting the “Opponent” radio button.    IV. TESTIMONY: Select the “Record of Appearance Only” radio button.   If filing without a login, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.   Then click “Create Slip.”  At this point, logged in or not, you click on this link to create your witness slip against SB1657: http://my.ilga.gov/WitnessSlip/Create/104404?committeeHearingId=14949&LegislationId=104404 If you are logged in, you get to skip to step III. I. IDENTIFICATION: Enter your personal information. Enter “NA” for the Firm/Business or Agency and Title fields unless you are officially representing an organization.   II. REPRESENTATION: Enter “Myself” unless representing an organization.   III. POSITION: Indicate your position by selecting the “Opponent” radio button.    IV. TESTIMONY: Select the “Record of Appearance Only” radio button.   If filing without a login, complete the Captcha challenge and agree to the ILGA Terms of Agreement.   Then click “Create Slip.” Afterwards, you can track witness slip activity for these bills/hearings: SB556   click here  SB1657 click here Contact your State Representaive and politely tell him/her that you are a law-abiding gun owner and that you expect them to vote against SB1657 even if it is amended. To verify who your State Resresentative is, use the lookup apps available at the Illinois State Board of Elections website. (click here)  Even if you prefer email, also contact them at their Springfield and district offices.  Email can be ignored, but phones must be answered.  Remember, the person who answers the phone is usually a state employee reporting to the legislator,  and is just doing their job.