There seems to be a misunderstanding as to the affect of the newly filed bill SB3993 on gun rights within the 2A community.  SB3993 is sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady, a huge 2^nd Amendment supporter.  SB3993 is the business communities, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, response to Governor Pritzker’s continued use of Executive Orders to restrict commerce.  This bill would set up certain protocols for businesses to remain open within the eleven Illinois Department of Public Health emergency regions as opposed to the arbitrary four regions within Gov. Pritzker’s Restore IL plan.  Furthermore, this new legislation would not allow any Governor to continually extend Emergency Declarations without approval from the General Assembly.

The consternation within the 2A community of this new bill is that it amends the existing Illinois Emergency Management Act.  Existing law says one of the powers of an Emergency Declaration is the ability to “suspend or limit the sale of firearms.”  SB3993 does nothing to limit firearm sales.  We at ISRA certainly have an issue with existing law that allows for an entity declaring an emergency to have the ability to limit firearm sales.  We faced this in Champaign and other municipalities.  Governor Pritzker chose not to limit firearm sales by declaring gun shops essential businesses.

In the end, if you do not like the unilateral power conveyed to a single person in emergency declarations that can stop people from working, you should support SB3993.