ANTI-GUNNERS PUSH MISGUIDED MANDATORY SENTENCE BILL

SB 1342 passed out of the Judicial Committee in House this afternoon on a 11-4 vote. This would allow even first time offenders to be charged with Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapons if caught with a firearm and a no FOID or a FOID that was more than 6 months expired. A conviction would result in a mandatory PRISON SENTENCE of 1 year of more and require at least 85% of the time to be served.

Right now the average FOID renewal is running around 4 months even though it is statutorily required to be done by the Illinois State Police in 30 days. Imagine if you forget to renew on time, or your Grandma who bought a firearm for self protection 30 years ago and never thought to renew her FOID gets pinched.

We have offered that we would agree to mandatory prison sentence for convicted violent ex-felons. They are already Federally prohibited persons. Federally they can be charged, and their sentence if convicted is 5 years in prison. In the Chicago Police Department's own murder analysis, over 80 percent of their solved homicides are committed by ex-felons.

Let's punish the violent ex-felons, not otherwise innocent people caught up in Chicago's feel good, (solve nothing but harm everyone), logic of violent crime prevention.