If this is a legit e-mail -Not sure,

[Stubob]

Illinois State Police Propose Age Ban on Firearms
The Illinois State Police have submitted a proposal to the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) which would end firearm safety education and shooting activities, including hunting, for anyone under 10 years of age. The proposal, which must be approved by JCAR, would forbid parents from obtaining Illinois Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) cards for their children under age 10.

If this proposal were to become law the state would dictate to parents how and when they could pass along our history, heritage and culture to their children. No hunting. No safety education and training. No shooting sports. What's more, the proposal could force parents to store their firearms only in a manner authorized by the state.

This regulation would do nothing to curb crime and only endanger children as parents would have to delay firearm safety education until their children were older. Furthermore, according to the National Safety Council, firearms accidents involving children are at an all-time low -- involved in less than 1 percent of all accidental fatalities in the United States.

Prior to considering proposed regulations, JCAR must observe a 45-day public comment period during which citizens may submit their views on the proposal, in writing, to JCAR. Please send comments on your opposition to this change by Oct. 25, 2007 to:

Mr. John M. Hosteny
Interim Chief Legal Counsel
Illinois State Police
801 South 7th Street, Suite 1000-S
Post Office Box 19461
Springfield, Illinois 62794-9461

[Bill of Rights]

Apparently, this is as I feared, Ill-annoy has responded to the father who got a FOID for his infant son so that he could buy the boy a weapon in his own name (obviously not to give to him prior to an age when he could responsibly use it) by closing the Pampers loophole.

My take on it is that the man got it and made a show of it, causing some embarrassment when it was noted publicly that IL has no minimum age to be issued a FOID, so now is knee-jerk responding, much as an unstable, angry, insecure, and abusive parent might react when his/her toddler, on a play date, uttered some embarrassing little detail in the hearing of other parents, cancelling all future play dates.
A stable, reasonable, balanced parent would blush, chuckle, and offer some joke like "Kids say the darndest things, huh?" and quietly advise the child later that family business stays at home.

Rather than realize that this father simply stayed within the law (as most lawful gun owners do!), and just made it public that he did so, they now wish to "spank" every family, not just those who own guns, by preventing the children even from learning how to be safe around them. Whether the lesson is Eddie Eagle, teaching Stop-don't touch, leave the area, tell an adult vs. the Brady bunch's knockoff that teaches basically the same lesson vs a responsible parent choosing to not use either program but still teaching the necessary basics, to teach a child these safety lessons is important.
I hope I've misread and that the proposal is only to ban FOIDs from single-digit ages, and that no matter if I misread or not, that it is defeated. With that state, though, it's hard to tell what lunacy they'll propose next.
When the next child dies because he didn't know those rules, there will be much wringing of hands and yet further laws restricting lawful self-defense, and the criminals living outside the law will sit back, laugh, and think, "Ch-ching. Payday."

God help us all.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
M

[VegasGeorge]

I see no problem with an age 10 minimum for issuing a firearms owners ID card. But, the law should allow children under 10 to handle and train with firearms under the direct supervision of a responsible adult with a FOID for the gun being used. Am I wrong?

[Bill of Rights]

My understanding is that in IL, if you have any contact at all with a firearm or ammo, you must have a FOID. If that's correct (junglebob? Is it?), and they change the min. age, they make teaching your children about shooting impossible, at least with any hands-on technique, and it's not much fun to go to the range, have to sit or stand quietly, and not get to do anything fun while Mom or Dad shoots, is it?

I don't see a problem with the 6, 7, 8, or 9 year old owning a firearm, so long as they do not possess it unsupervised. It's kinda like a guy with a restraining order on him. He can't possess his guns legally, but he can still own them. (as in, "I'm going to give these to my friend to lock up, and he won't let me have them back till the order has expired.")

Say "thank you." I'm not getting started on the prohibition on possession on the basis of someone else's fear, even groundless.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
M

[junglebob]

I don't believe that it is against the law in Illinois for a child to hold a firearm while under the parents supervision even if the child doesn't have a FOID card. I went to a shooting camp with my 2 grandsons last week and the applications did not ask if they had FOID cards. I do know some gun shops in Illinois won't let you hold a firearm unless you show them a FOID card, maybe because they are wary of being in some TV documentary on gun shops, or because of liability or maybe state statutes. My wife does have a FOID card even though she isn't a shooter, just in case she ever gets stopped and the car gets searched. The chances are very good there will be some ammo there, sometimes a firearm.

Someone on another forum said that they may be trying to get a minimum age to discourage young people from getting involved in shooting and hunting. There is a penalty for having a firearm not unloaded and locked if there is a person under age 14 without a FOID card in the home.

[Bill of Rights]

Thanks for the info, junglebob. If you're correct, as I hope you are, at least parents could still teach their kids to be safe.

Cogito, ergo porto.

Blessings,
M