After decades of prohibiting citizens from shipping handguns, the USPS is considering a policy change. Go to the link to view the proposal and information on how to comment.

ILL G U N O W N E R L O B B Y D A Y

APRIL 15, 2026 At BANK OF SPRINGFIELD CENTER

RALLY AND MARCH TO THE CAPITOL

HTTPS://ISRA.ORG/IGOLD/

DOORS OPEN AT 10AM

PROGRAM STARTS AT 11AM

815.635.3198 OR MEMBER@ISRA.ORGHOSTED BY ILLINOIS STATE RIFLE ASSOCIATION

The link will take you to the petition stemming from the arrest of a Virginia woman in Maryland for possession of a firearm while traveling through that state while en route to Pennsylvania. The outcome of the Court’s action will have nationwide implications.

This proposal is from a local representative in Red Bud, Il. The story may be of interest.

The links provided will bring the reader to two pieces of proposed legislation in the Illinois General Assembly. One addresses a surcharge of 3.75% on the sale of firearms and firearm’s parts. The other requires that you submit to fingerprinting to apply for, or renew, an FOID card. The cost of the prints cannot exceed $30.

https://ilga.gov/Legislation/BillStatus?DocNum=1177&GAID=18&DocTypeID=HB&LegId=156939&SessionID=114

More on the audit of ISP and their administration of the FOID

The opinion of the Court in a non-gun related case may serve beneficial to gun manufacturers. The Court ruled 9 - 0 that a company making a legal product cannot be held liable for the product’s misuse by a third party. The link will take you to the Court’s opinion. It involves Cox Communications and Sony Music.

Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly says Firearm Owner’s Identification Card backlogs have been eliminated and processing times have improved.

Courtney Dzierwa of the Auditor General’s Office said renewal fees were deposited into the wrong fund, and ISP was late to provide notification of expiring cards in some cases.

The link provided brings you to the full story from The Center Square.

Viramontes v. Cook County has been distributed for conference on 3/27/26.

The court again has issued no orders regarding the 5 requests for Cert that center on “assault weapons” and magazine bans. Expect the court to relist them for conference in the next week or two. This is business as usual.

The Glock ban has been sent to committee and is now open to public comment. The Witness Slip process is used to voice opposition or approval of proposed legislation. If you are inclined to comment you may do so by utilizing the link provided. The link is from Illinoiscary.com.

House representatives from Chicago have submitted a proposal to ban the sale of any semiautomatic pistol with a cruciform trigger bar. This means all Glock or Glock type pistols. The proposal refers to these striker fired guns as “convertible pistols”. The assumption is that Glock pistols could be illegally converted to an already illegal firearm so they need to be banned. The link above will take you to the proposal.

• The link above will bring you to a story today from WCSJ Radio in Morris. The author is PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com and associates.

Viramontes v. Cook County has been relisted for conference on 3/20/26. This is the 8th time this request for Cert has been relisted. Viramontes concerns the Cook County semi auto ban. It carries national significance.

In the Illinois legislative sausage factory in Springfield one of the methods that the average person can use to tell politicians what they think is a Witness Slip. As proposed legislation advance in the factory bills are assigned to standing committees and scheduled for hearings. At this point citizens can submit a notice to the committee that allows one to support or oppose the bill.

Witness slips can be filed on the Illinois General Assembly website at www.ilga.gov. To find the form, go to the Senate Schedules or House Schedules page, then look under Hearing Schedules. Select the Today, Week, or Month tab, choose the hearing you are interested in, click Details, and then select Create Witness Slip. Complete the required fields and submit.

But, since this is Illinois, the portal only opens once a bill is posted for a committee hearing and closes immediately after the hearing ends, so you need to submit slips as soon as a hearing is scheduled. It is a standard tactic is to have the meeting as soon as possible after the posting to minimize the window for comments. In some past incidents it was very late at night for an early morning meeting. The factory does a lot of its work very late at night.

The slips do work often. The responses by citizens on really oppressive proposed laws helped ensure that they never saw the light of day. A great source for information and alerts on proposed gun legislation is IllinoisCarry.com.

The House Judicial - HB4414 - The Criminal Committee meets this evening to discuss legislation proposed to require the registration of all handgun ammunition.To do that the proposal further requires that all handgun ammunition be serial numbered. It also discusses the assessment and collection of “end-user” fees not to exceed 5 cents per round. This proposal includes all ammunition in private ownership and ammunition that is handloaded. Who said bootlegging is dead.

IllinoisCary.com is a good place to visit for current information regarding gun legislation in Illinois. It is a moderated discussion group that remains cogent and realistic as they discuss what is happening in the state. They offer information and guidance about how to show your opinions to legislators through the Witness Slip process. Try it.

Finally, HB4999 MHDD CD – Disclosure Exception would deny those accused of being a clear and present danger by medical personnel their most fundamental right to confront their accuser, by concealing the identity of the accuser.

While the situation may seem remote to many, or the idea that some people should not have firearms because of their behavior, the problem is the method proposed sits in violation of basic law. If the law passes when will it be applied to other law.

HB3320 RIFL Act proposes to create a firearm manufacture's license, similar to the dealer licensing requirement that put approximately one half of our firearm retailers out of business. According to newly filed language, “... in the first year the total annual aggregate fee shall be equal to $50,000,000” and it will no longer be legal for anyone to sell a firearm in Illinois made by a manufacturer that has not paid its share of that $50,000,000. In other words, it will no longer be legal to sell firearms in Illinois.

The House Judiciary – Criminal Committee and House Gun Violence Prevention Committee are back in full swing this week with several bills posted to their 3/18/2026 and 3/19/2026 hearings. There bills are of interest to shooters and gun owners.

HB2965 Crim Cd – Lost Firearms seeks to impose fines as high as $1,000 if a gun owner's lost or stolen firearm is found. The bill also provides for revocation of the owner's FOID card and concealed carry license. While normal folks consider the return of stolen property a winning situation, the sponsor appears to prefer that the missing gun remain lost or stolen. Consider this scenario:

> A gun owner's home is burglarized. Among the items stolen are 3 guns.

> The homeowner reports the theft of their property, including the firearms, and cooperates with the investigation.

> The thief is caught, and the 3 stolen firearms are taken into police possession.

> Under this legislation, the victim of the theft is subject to a maximum $3,000 fine, and her FOID Card and Concealed Carry License shall be revoked.

This is not fiction. Please read the proposal yourself.

HB3320/SB2279, the RIFL Act, sits in Committee at this date. It is receiving attention from the Champagne County Board. There is a pending resolution to support the proposal. The RIFL would conceivably end firearm sales in the state through exorbitant licensing requirements. https://bearingarms.com/camedwards/2026/02/12/chicago-suburbbacks-effort-to-obliterate-firearm-access-in-illinois-n1231545 

There are currently 5 major appeals in the US Supreme Court dealing with semi automatic firearms bans. The appeals all seek a Writ of Certiorari. A Writ of Certiorari is a request for the case to be heard by the court. The Court accepts very few cases every year. The cases are scheduled for conference on Friday, February 20th. The results will be made public on Monday the 23rd. Because of the close relationship between those cases there is a possibility that they will be combined. One of the cases is Viramontes v. Cook County challenging the Cook County semi automatic firearms bans. Court watchers think there is a possibility that the count will grant cert, vacate to order, and remand to the lower court they came from. This means the case will be returned to the lower court for reconsideration applying the Supreme Court’s previous decisions on 2nd Amendment rights. https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-238/380932/20251029113522580_25-238%20Brief.pdf https://legalknowledgebase.com/what-does-it-mean-for-a-court-to-vacate-and-remand 

In Illinois, HB0043 has been filed to establish a task force to study requiring insurance for gun ownership. On its face this would appear to be in direct violation of the Constitution, but this is Illinois. https://www.ilga.gov/ftp/legislation/104/BillStatus/HTML/10400HB0043.html

The NRA is suing the NRA Foundation. We are not sure at this time how this might affect Foundation grants. This is being watched. The case, known as NRA v. the NRA Foundation, seeks to hold The NRA Foundation's leadership accountable for operating in bad faith and withholding funds meant to support the NRA's charitable activities. The complaint alleges that current NRA Foundation leadership is misleading donors who believe they are donating to support the National Rifle Association’s mission, when in fact, these funds are not being provided to the organization.

The Illinois House and Senate are both considering the Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act. This act establishes a firearms manufacturer licensing program, with certain requirements, that levees fees on each gun company doing business in Illinois. Those fees shall be equal to what the state government determines is the public health costs and financial burdens from firearm injuries and deaths. It provides that, beginning January 1, 2028, a manufacturer of firearms may not operate in this State without a license from the state and that a manufacturer who violates this provision is subject to a civil penalty of up to $1,000,000 per month. It provides that, beginning January 1, 2028, a retailer may not sell a firearm to a consumer in this State from a manufacturer who does not have a license from the state and that a retailer who violates this provision is subject to a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per violation, with certain requirements. Establishes the RIFL Fund as a special fund in the State treasury, with certain limitations. Provides that the proceeds from fees under the licensing program shall be deposited into the RIFL Fund. Establishes a financial assistance program in the state with money from the RIFL Fund for financial assistance to victims of firearms injury or deaths. If passed into law, it is considered that the cost for a person to buy a new gun would be so absorbent that it would shut down the gun business in Illinois. If the gun business goes, so goes ammunition and components.