The progressive left is on the march to disarm honest citizens. At the national level, President Joe Biden is using executive orders to implement gun control policies that cannot get to his desk via the legislative process.
And here in Illinois, we continue to see our rights being trampled by the radical left. Most if not all of the policies they are advocating would not do a single thing to reduce violent crime. At the same time that gun control carnival barkers are crowing about more gun laws – the very same people are also actively trying to stop the prosecution of criminals who use guns to commit crimes.
The truth is gun control advocates do not care about gun crimes. What they do care about is silencing and punishing their political opponents. Gun control is not about anything so noble as saving human life. It is about control and silencing conservatives. The right of free assembly, the protections afforded citizens from illegal searches and sieges and the right to bear arms are all individual rights that uniquely protect us from government tyranny. It is no accident that the statists are using the pandemic as a vehicle to shutter churches and gun confiscation. The choice of David Chipman as the new director for the ATF is a sure sign that our woke overlords want to use the excuse of public safety to take possession of our firearms.
Our 1st, 2nd and 4th Amendment rights are in peril. We need to stand up and fight for our liberties before they disappear.
This week’s newsletter highlights more gun control bills in Springfield, the lucrative pension benefits former Speaker Mike Madigan is receiving and the budget gimmicks that are bankrupting state government.
As always if you have any questions, feel free to email me or call my office at 217-774-1306.
Sincerely,
Brad Halbrook
More gun control legislation being considered
There is no end to the left’s incessant harassment of honest gun owners. The latest effort is Senate Bill 568, which doubles the cost of obtaining a FOID card and would reduce the expiration of the card from 10 years down to five.
Punishing honest gun owners by increasing fees is not going to do a thing to make our communities safer. Exercising our Constitutional rights should not cost citizens a dime. The radical left by insisting on increasing the cost of the FOID card is making a compelling case to end the FOID once and for all.
Despite federal probe, former Speaker Mike Madigan collecting pension
On March 24th, former House Speaker Mike Madigan received his first pension check for $7,093.
His current annual pension of $85,117 is set to increase to $148,955 in July 2022. Madigan contributed $352,345 to his General Assembly Retirement Fund but in three years, his pension will exceed the amount he contributed.
For decades Madigan doled out political favors to insiders, approved spending plans that have brought our state to insolvency and raised taxes. People are leaving Illinois in droves thanks to policies Madigan forced onto our state. We are left to clean up his mess while he reaps hundreds of thousands of dollars in pension funds – all while being investigated by the federal government. Is it any wonder our state is in such a mess?
Former IL Comptroller sounds alarm about perils of accounting gimmicks
During a recent presentation to the Governmental Accounting Standards Board former Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said accounting gimmicks to make budgets appear balanced are bankrupting our state.
“We are a state that, if we could be bankrupt, we would be bankrupt,” Munger said.
She cited tricks such as counting borrowed funds as revenue to make the budget appear balanced. What Illinois needs is an honest budget process. We need accurate revenue estimates, and we need to limit the growth of spending. The budget gimmicks and financial games being played are hurting our state and driving us deeper into debt. We need reform and we need it now.
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