West Central Reporter

Schuyler County Sheriff Bill Redshaw said he has “no intentions to arrest” anyone violating the state’s sweeping assault weapon ban signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in early January.

Just days after HB 5471 became law, Redshaw wrote to the citizens of Schuyler County. He expressed his opposition to the ban on his Facebook page.

“Most of you are familiar with HB 5471. If it becomes law, it would prohibit the purchase of any guns in the State of Illinois that they consider an assault rifle, which is a long list,” Redshaw said in a statement. “This Law also restricts the use of high capacity magazines. One of my biggest concerns is that this Law also states that you must register all the guns that you own that they consider an assault rifle."

The sheriff said he does not support this bill "in anyway" and feels the bill is unconstitutional. He said he has "no intentions to arrest anyone for not registering their guns." 

"It is my hope and prayer that this bill will soon be overturned by the Courts and will not become Law,” Redshaw said. “I really feel that this law hinders the honest gun owner that either hunts, collects, or uses for sport. It has no effect on the criminal that obtains their guns illegally. I have a moral concern if this is not overturned by the court, where do we go from here.”

According to Colion Noir, nearly 90 percent of the state's county sheriffs are not enforcing the ban due to what they see as constitutional violations. 

Otherwise known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act, the law classifies all semi-automatic weapons as assault weapons. It affects 170 types of guns commonly available in the state. The law requires that certain firearms be registered for $50 apiece. As many as five million firearms and ten million magazines in the state may be affected. Gun rights advocates have begun litigation against the state, claiming it is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, according to Chicago City Wire.

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison issued a temporary restraining order last week blocking the law. That means the ban will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore until it can be heard in court. “We will see if the state wants to appeal. If not, we’ll work on getting this pursued to a final ruling so we can get to the merits of these issues, sooner rather than later,” DeVore, a former attorney general candidate, told The Center Square. The plaintiffs included 862 Illinois citizens from more than 80 counties and four licensed firearms dealers.

In another report, The Center Square noted another 1,690 plaintiffs came forward to fight the law, joining a second lawsuit headed by DeVore after the Effingham County ruling. “How many plaintiffs in the second case? … I don’t want to give that away,” DeVore said. “I’m going to let the governor hang in suspense and he’ll find out … when we file this thing. I’m really pleased with the support because we’re going and we’re going to go off into federal court and we’re going to get the governor's attention in a bigger way than we’ve already got.” Of the nearly 1,700 plaintiffs across 92 counties in the second case, 62 are gun stores.

The Illinois State Rifle Association, the Firearms Policy Coalition, Inc., the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), and several gun owners from across Illinois have filed joint action in federal court against the State of Illinois over the law. "The Second Amendment Foundation has filed a motion for preliminary injunction in its federal court challenge of the recently signed ban on modern semiautomatic rifles and their ammunition magazines. The case is known as Harrel v. Raoul," SAF said in a news release. "Joining SAF are the Illinois State Rifle Association, Firearms Policy Coalition, C4 Gun Store LLC, Marengo Guns, Inc. and a private citizen, Dane Harrel, for whom the case is named. They are represented by attorney David Sigale of Wheaton, Ill. The motion was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois."