UPDATED 5:25 P.M.
PEORIA, Ill. – At least some sheriffs in Illinois are already saying “no thank you” to the state’s new ban on the sale and manufacture of assault weapons, even if they are all using essentially the same words to do it.
Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins, Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower, Woodford County Sheriff Matt Smith, and Knox County Sheriff Jack Harlan say they won’t essentially be enforcing the part of the law that requires current assault weapons owners to register their guns with Illinois State Police.
Lower, Smith, Harlan, and others used prepared statements which mirror almost word for word what Fulton and Iroquois Counties say, which also references the believe it’s a violation of the Constitution.
Other reports have suggested such a statement is akin to a form letter.
“As the Sheriff of Peoria County, I oppose the legislative bill (HB 5471) that was recently passed banning law-abiding citizens from buying certain types of firearms,” said Watkins, in his own separate statement. “This is another example of Chicago policy being pushed downstate on responsible gun owners. This bill does not solve the root cause of the problem. The real focus should be on the Mental Health Crisis that’s plaguing our communities that I see increasing every day in Peoria County. ”
Governor JB Pritzker, meanwhile, say if police don’t want to enforce the law, they shouldn’t be in their jobs.
(Knox County Sheriffs Department)
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