Illinois Assault Weapon Owners Can Now Register Grandfathered Guns

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Illinois residents who own firearms covered under new gun regulations passed this year in response to the Highland Park shooting have three months to register their weapons with state officials, Illinois State Police announced Sunday.

The Protect Illinois Communities Act, signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 10, defines and restricts the sale and possession of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines and .50 caliber rifles and cartridges.

Gun owners who owned banned firearms before the new law took effect and who want to continue possessing them legally have until the end of the year to submit an endorsement affidavit through their Firearm Owners Identification, or FOID, account.

To register a banned item, FOID card holders must submit the type, model, serial number and caliber and acquisition date, if known.

The disclosure requirement is required for assault weapons, assault weapon attachments, .50 caliber rifles and .50 caliber cartridges. Large-capacity magazines, which are also restricted under the act, do not require an endorsement affidavit, according to Illinois State Police.

---

The accused gunman in last year's mass shooting at the Highland Park 4th of July parade allegedly used an M&P 15, a semiautomatic AR-15-style rifle he had legally purchased, to fire more than 80 rounds from a trio of 30-round magazines into the crowds of paradegoers, authorities said. Both items are covered under the new gun ban.

More information is available through the website of the Illinois State Police's Firearm Services Bureau website. And anyone who needs assistance submitting an affidavit can visit one of Illinois State Police's FOID kiosks, which are located in Lockport, Springfield, Collinsvile and Du Quoin, according to state police, who reminded firearm owners not to bring weapons or ammunition to the in-person kiosks.

The penalty for violating the Protect Illinois Communities Act's ban on the possession, manufacture, delivery or sale of assault weapons is a class A misdemeanor for a first offense and a class 3 felony for any further violations, while a violation of the act's magazine ban is a petty offense that carries a $1,000 fire for each violation.

The Illinois Supreme Court in August voted 4-3 to uphold the law, finding that it did not violate the equal protection clause by giving preferential treatment to police, prison guards and other unionized public officials over military veterans and others. The state's highest court has delayed issuing a final order in the case pending an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In federal court, a judge in the Southern District of Illinois granted a preliminary injunction in April, briefly blocking enforcement of the law, while two judges in the Northern District of Illinois have refused to do so. Those cases have been combined and are now being contested in front of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which heard oral arguments in June.