Good news in Illinois--but the fight is far from over

On the good news side, the proposed one-handgun-per-month law, HB 4393, fell seven votes short yesterday of passage in the House. It's not dead, however, because when it became clear that the votes weren't there, it was withdrawn from consideration before the vote tally was made official. If and when they think they have the votes, they'll try again to ration the Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental human right of the individual to keep and bear arms.

Similarly, HB 731, a bill that would mandate the locking up of all guns in homes in which there is (even momentarily) anyone under the age of 18, and who doesn't have a FOID card, also failed to draw enough votes for passage. It, too, was withdrawn when its backers realized it didn't have the votes, so like HB 4393, it can come back any time. Still think this bill is a good idea, citizen disarmers?

The big concerns for the moment are two big Brady Bunch priorities: Commissar Senator Kotowski's full capacity magazine ban bill, SB 1007 (a bill Kotowski hijacked from its original purpose of protecting children from sexual exploitation); and HB 758, which would make even private sales of handguns subject to the same draconian restrictions imposed on sales from dealers. Yesterday, the bill was amended to be made even more onerous.

These bills could come up for vote as early as today (HB 758 in particular seems to have a lot of momentum behind it). Here's contact information for some legislators who are thought to be on the fence:

State Representative Sandy Cole (R-62)
(217) 782-7320

State Representative Paul Froehlich (D-56)
(217) 782-3725

State Representative Sidney Mathias (R-53)
(217) 782-1664

State Representative Ruth Munson (R-43)
(217) 782-8020

State Representative Charles Jefferson (D-67)
(217) 782-3167

State Representative Patricia Bellock (R-47)
(217) 782-1448

State Representative Sandra Pihos (R-42)
(217) 782-8037

Illinois folks, is what's left in this blighted state of the right to keep and bear arms worth seven quick phone calls to you?