JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ill. (WSIL) --- The January 1st Deadline for Illinois gun owners to register their assault-style weapons is approaching.
This is for Illinoisans who already owned assault weapons before the was passed last January.
Jefferson County's Sheriff Jeff Bullard says the law is more like a request until the Supreme Court determines if the law is constitutional.
“The fact that 90 sheriffs have declared that it's unconstitutional, including myself being one of them, uh, and stating we won't be enforcing it,� Bullard said.
It requires you to disclose certain types of guns so police will have them on file. So far only 15,000 Illinoisans have disclosed owning 33,000 weapons.
“And that's weapons that have higher capacities. Like you take an AR-15 that has a 30-round magazine,� Bullard said.
But there are different penalties for not registering your guns. Carrying or having an assault-style weapon is a class A misdemeanor, and could land you a year in jail.
“At that point in time, the person's FOID card can get revoked and possibly their Concealed Carry license if they have one also,� Bullard said.
Manufacturing, selling, delivering, and buying those weapons is a class 3 felony. That could land you 10 years in prison.
“If someone's arrested for a violent crime, obviously we are all about that,� Bullard says. “And if they charge someone with this gun control act on top of a violent crime, you know, we will house that because they committed a violent crime.�
Bullard says he doesn't think the new law will stop violent crimes.
“What I've seen work time and time again is aggressive policing, aggressive investigation, aggressive prosecution, and judges who sentence appropriately based on the evidence of what the defendant's convicted on,� Bullard said.
The move has been supported by Illinois Democrats who say it's in the best interest of our safety.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin spoke about a nationwide ban on Assault Weapons earlier this month on the Senate floor.
He said, “When a shooter is armed with an assault weapon, the number of deaths in a mass shooting is on average twice as high. If we can prevent that many deaths when these tragedies strike by passing an assault weapons ban, what are we waiting for?�
Illinois is one of 11 states to take that action.
Gun owners can go to the Firearm Services Bureau or the Illinois State Police website to find out more information, and to their guns.
