As brain-addled ideas out of left field go, the Responsibility in Firearm Legislation (RIFL) Act is on par with the silliest suggestions anti-Second Amendment radicals have floated. You’d think the right to keep and bear arms is a myth.
But a proposal floated by Illinois lawmakers last year is gaining momentum, and its sole purpose is to bankrupt the weapons industry and drive every single manufacturer into the ground.
How so?
Illinois’ penchant for half-baked anti-2A schemes reached new low
Makers of Second Amendment-related goods would be subjected to a state licensing program. The fees would be directly tied to whatever the total of “public health costs and financial burdens” Illinois authorities claim is caused by the people lawfully possessing firearms.
Not criminals causing mayhem on Chicago’s streets, and it doesn’t matter that third-party users break the law of their own accord. Civil penalties could be levied up to $1 million per month for gunmakers and as much as $10,000 per “violation” at the retail level.
The RIFL Act may be extreme, but it is hardly an outlier in Illinois politics.
Idea has backing of dozens of Illinois lawmakers
No less than Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) backs the proposal, and there are 35 co-sponsors for the House version and roughly 20 for the Senate’s.
It may be wacky, but it’s not just the ramblings of a lone eccentric lawmaker from a district no one’s heard of.
One of the effort’s dozens of sponsors, State Sen. Rob Peters (D), believes federal protection of the Second Amendment industry through the PLCAA, enacted with bipartisan support in 2005, means gunmakers are not being held responsible.
“Since the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), firearm manufacturers have been shielded from lawsuits and the consequences of their for-profit activity, leaving taxpayers to effectively subsidize the negative effects of the firearm industry.”
Starting New Year’s Day in 2028, industry members could not operate in the Land of Lincoln without a state license, and gun shops could not sell their products.
The funds drained from the weapons industry would be the death of the Second Amendment in Illinois.
Bureaucrats would tally an annual “public health cost,” and it’s guaranteed to exceed what manufacturers and retailers can absorb.
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