ISP holds first hearing on assault weapons ban registry

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SPRINGFIELD (WGEM) - The clock is ticking for Illinoisans who own assault weapons to get them registered. As of Jan. 1, 2024, all assault weapons, assault-weapon attachments, as well as 50-caliber rifles and cartridges, purchased before Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation banning them on Jan. 10, 2023, must be registered with the Illinois State Police (ISP).

Thursday, ISP held its first public hearing on the registry in Springfield.

According to the latest ISP data, only 2,430 Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card holders out of out of 2,415,481 statewide have registered assault weapons since the registry opened Oct. 1. That’s about 0.1 percent of FOID card holders. Not every FOID card holder, however, owns a weapon that will require registration by the Dec. 31 deadline.

“There are a lot of people who do not realize that a firearm they’ve had in their possession for many many years may now make them a felon next year if they don’t register it,” said Josh Witkowski with the Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources (IFOR).

Though the first offense for failing to register is a Class A Misdemeanor, all subsequent offenses are felonies.

Witkowski fears many IFOR members may soon become accidental felons.

“A great number of semi-automatic shotguns, which are commonly used for hunting and sporting purposes, are now considered so-called ‘assault weapons,’” he said.

Witkowski said the rules in the new law, known as the Protecting Illinois Communities Act, are too vague. Many lawful gun owners don’t realize they may have to register their weapons, especially when it comes to capacities on shotguns.

“A semiautomatic shotgun with more than five rounds capacity is now considered an assault weapon,” he said. “Well, is that the standard capacity listed for that shotgun or is that if the shotgun can fit so many shells?”

He also has concerns about how weapon attachments are going to be regulated under the new law.

The biggest question from many, however, is with so few FOID card owners having registered their weapons so far, what’s going to happen to gun owners across Illinois?

“What happens when hundreds of thousands of gun owners are noncompliant overnight and they’re just otherwise totally law-abiding citizens,” State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, asked.

State Police officials said they plan to post answers to questions posed at the hearing on the agency’s website.

There are two more hearings. One is Friday in Chicago. The other is on Nov. 6 in Caseyville.

People who own a weapon that needs to be registered can do so on the ISP website through their FOID card account.