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.
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