Illinois Bans Semi-Automatic Firearms and Standard Capacity Magazines

Posted on Tuesday, January 17, 2023

Contact: Bob Matthews, Senior Coordinator, Upper Midwestern States

• Following a dead-of-night House vote and a Sunday evening Senate session, the lame-duck Illinois legislature passed a bill banning Modern Sporting Rifles and imposed restrictions on Standard Capacity Magazines.
• Illinois becomes the ninth state to restrict the sale and manufacture of modern sporting rifles in some capacity (the others being CA, CT, DE, HI, MA, MD, NJ, NY).
• The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) directly contacted each member of the Illinois State Senate individually to inform Senators of the significant negative impacts that this legislation is likely to have on the many sportsmen and women of Illinois, as well as conservation funding in the state.
• Litigation is expected to be swiftly filed, challenging the legality of this detrimental legislation.

Why It Matters: Following the Governor’s signature of Illinois House Bill 5471, sportsmen and women in the Prairie State will see significant changes to how semi-automatic firearms and magazines are treated in Illinois. This legislation will not only harm sportsmen and women of the state by barring future purchases of modern sporting rifles, thereby limiting opportunities for recreational shooting, but it will also hurt conservation funding.

On its final day in session, the lame-duck Illinois General Assembly passed a bill, ultimately becoming HB 5471, which prohibits the sale, manufacture, possession, and purchase of modern sporting rifles, attachments, and .50 BMG cartridges in Illinois. Additionally, the bill limits magazine capacities to 10 rounds per magazine for long guns and 15 rounds per magazine for handguns. The bill requires existing owners to register the firearms covered by this legislation with the Illinois State Police by January 1, 2024, and expands the state court’s ability to impose firearm restraining orders. The full text of the legislation as enrolled can be found here.

This legislation will have negative impacts on Illinois’ strong community of sportsmen and women, which in turn is likely to harm the state’s fish and wildlife conservation funding. In 2021, through the American System of Conservation Funding, Illinois sportsmen and women generated $60 million in conservation revenue for the state through license sales and excise taxes on outdoor goods, including firearms and ammunition. By banning the sale of modern sporting rifles, among the most popular and commonly used styles of firearms by recreational shooting sports participants, this bill not only bars sportsmen and women from being able to participate in our time-honored traditions, but it may also jeopardize the ability of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to conserve the state’s resources.

Additionally, the magazine caps that this legislation imposes place an undue financial burden on sportsmen and women, who are now forced to purchase additional equipment to use their firearms to conform with the new law’s requirements. The magazines that the legislation deems to be “high-capacity” are in fact industry standard, and the modern sporting rifles that this bill targets, like the AR-15, are some of the most common firearms presently in circulation and are widely used in competitive and recreational shooting.

Litigation challenging the constitutionality of the law is certain. The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation will continue to work to educate lawmakers across the country on why legislation like this is detrimental to the interests of sportsmen and women, as well as conservation in the event similar legislation is proposed elsewhere.

States Involved

• Illinois

New Year, New Technologies Available for Midwestern Hunters

Posted on Monday, January 09, 2023

Contact: Kent Keene, Assistant Manager, Lower Midwestern States and Agriculture Policy

• Striking the balance between technology and conservation is critical to ensure that hunting remains safe and supports science-based conservation while providing new and novel opportunities.
• The use of arrow-shooting airguns during Oklahoma’s firearms deer seasons, following the purchase of an airbow conservation stamp (which ensures this new method of take contributes to conservation funding), provides a unique opportunity to utilize this novel technology.
• Advancements in shotshell technologies will benefit turkey hunters in Iowa who may now use .410-bore and 28-gauge shotguns during the 2023 firearms turkey seasons.

Why It Matters: Our outdoor pursuits are undeniably rooted in deep tradition, but that doesn’t mean the old way of doing things is the only right way. Thanks to continued innovation, hunters, and all sportsmen and women, have seen their opportunities to participate in and enjoy the outdoors grow in ways that our ancestors could have never imagined. However, with these advancements come questions that we must ask. Do these opportunities provide any additional conservation benefits? Do they open the door for new, or lapsed, participants? Fortunately, recent efforts across the Midwest, and in other parts of the country, have ensured that both of these questions are answered correctly.

As new technologies are developed, sportsmen and women, state fish and wildlife agencies, and elected officials must all grapple with striking a balance between utilizing these technologies to increase participation in our outdoor pursuits and maintaining the fair chase ethic by which America’s sportsmen and women operate. This balancing act can, at times, be quite a challenge as innovations continue to be developed. Fortunately for hunters in the Lower Midwest, 2022 efforts have opened the door for new opportunities in 2023 while maintaining the conservation ethic by which we all abide.

In Oklahoma, thanks to the efforts of now-retired Oklahoma Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chair and NASC Executive Council Member Senator Mark Allen and the passage of Senate Bill 1571 in 2022, hunters will have the opportunity to pursue deer with arrow-shooting airguns (also commonly known as “airbows”) during the Sooner State’s firearms deer season following the purchase of an airbow conservation stamp. This opportunity was available for hunters in 2023 thanks to an emergency clause within the bill, and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation is currently finalizing its efforts to formally include arrow-shooting airguns within its regulations package.

In Iowa, turkey hunters will have the opportunity to utilize .410-bore and 28-gauge shotguns during the upcoming spring turkey season. Thanks to mission partners, members of the sporting-conservation community, and the leadership of Iowa Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Co-Chairs Senator Chris Cournoyer and Representative Terry Baxter (now retired), Senate File 2334 passed unanimously. These smaller, lighter recoiling chamberings, when combined with advancements in shotshell technology, allow young, small-framed, or otherwise recoil-sensitive hunters to use a more comfortable firearm while maintaining their effectiveness in the field.

These are but two examples of the way that improvements in technologies can benefit hunters and, on a much broader scale, conservation overall. As new technologies arise, and they undoubtedly will, we must continue to strike the balance of removing barriers to participation while safeguarding the fair chase ethic that makes sportsmen and women the “Original Conservationists.”

States Involved

• Oklahoma

Conservation Funding Legislation Introduced in South Carolina

Posted on Monday, January 09, 2023

Contact: John Culclasure, Southeastern States Director

• Last month, South Carolina Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus Member Senator Chip Campsen introduced two bills to support conservation initiatives in the state.
• Senate Bill 280, the South Carolina Conservation Enhancement Act, would restore a portion of the deed recording fee to support the South Carolina Conservation Bank.
• Senate Bill 281, the South Carolina Public Lands Enhancement Act, would direct sales tax revenue from sporting goods stores to support access improvements on public lands owned, leased, or managed by the state.

Why It Matters: While sportsmen and women generate significant annual funding for conservation through the “user pays – public benefits” American System of Conservation Funding, increased use of public lands and increased development threats to private lands support the need for additional funding to improve access to public lands and conserve private lands in the Palmetto State.

South Carolina is one of the most rapidly developing states in the country and regularly ranks in the top 10 states to which people move, and that growth threatens the state’s natural resources and access to the outdoors. The South Carolina Conservation Bank has conserved more than 338,000 acres of farms, working forests, and other natural areas across the state in its 20-year history, and the South Carolina Conservation Enhancement Act would increase the ability of the Conservation Bank to conserve more land in the state. Specifically, twenty-five cents of each one dollar thirty cents would be credited to the South Carolina Conservation Bank Trust Fund which is a restoration of the deed recording fee that was previously dedicated to the Conservation Bank since its formation until 2018.

The South Carolina Public Lands Enhancement Act would dedicate the sales tax revenue on outdoor gear and sporting goods to the Public Lands Enhancement Fund for capital improvements that create, improve, or restore access to public lands and waters, natural resources including fish and wildlife populations, or recreational opportunities. The Public Lands Enhancement Fund could not be used for fee-simple title acquisitions.

The 2023 South Carolina legislative session will convene on January 10, and the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) looks forward to working with members of the South Carolina Legislative Caucus to support these bills that would complement the contributions of South Carolina’s sportsmen and women who, in 2021 alone, generated $31.32 million for state-based conservation through the American System of Conservation Funding.

States Involved

• South Carolina

Legislation to Ban Modern Sporting Rifles to be Re-Introduced in Washington

Posted on Monday, December 19, 2022

Contact: Keely Hopkins, Manager, Pacific States & Firearm Policy

• Washington legislators will once again be considering a proposed ban on the sale or transfer of modern sporting rifles during the upcoming 2023 legislation session.
• Legislation similar to Senate Bill 5217, which was introduced in the previous session, is expected to be reintroduced and would ban a number of modern sporting rifles and other semi-automatic firearms that are commonly used in hunting and recreational shooting.
• The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation strongly opposes efforts to restrict these commonly owned firearms and will be on the ground in Olympia to oppose this measure and other legislation impacting hunting and recreational shooting in the Evergreen State.

Why It Matters: Senate Bill 5217, and the expected reintroduced version, seeks to ban many semi-automatic firearms commonly used by America’s sportsmen and women in hunting and recreational shooting. Modern sporting rifles and semi-automatic firearms are not only important to our hunting heritage but are highly popular in the recreational shooting community. This legislation would severely undermine our hunting heritage, firearm rights, and America’s most successful wildlife conservation program – the Pittman-Robertson Act. 

Washington lawmakers will once again be considering a ban on modern sporting rifles and other semi-automatic firearms during the upcoming 2023 legislation session. Legislation similar to Senate Bill 5217, previously introduced during the 2021 regular session, is expected to be re-introduced, and with changes in the legislative make-up in Olympia following the November election could advance further than in previous years. As previously drafted, the legislation specifically bans listed firearms, but also includes several “catch-all” provisions, including one that would ban semi-automatic firearms with certain aesthetics or cosmetic accessories that do little to nothing to change the core function of the firearm. Modern sporting rifles and semiautomatic firearms, like those targeted in SB 5217, are commonly found in the hands of hunters and recreational shooters throughout the nation who value them for their durability and reliability.

In addition to restricting access to these firearms for hunting, recreational shooting and a wide variety of other lawful purposes, a ban on modern sporting rifles and semi-automatic firearms would also impact conservation funding in the state. Washington’s law-abiding hunters and shooters have long played a vital role in funding conservation and wildlife management efforts. Under the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF), a unique “user pays-public benefits” structure, Washington’s sportsmen and women generate tens of millions of dollars each year for the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife. These funds are generated through license sales, and also a 10-11% federal excise tax on firearm purchases under the Pittman-Robertson Act. Last year alone, over $21 million dollars was generated through Pittman-Robertson for Washington state, providing vital funding revenue to the state’s conservation, habitat restoration, and wildlife management efforts.

The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) will be on the ground in Olympia during the upcoming legislative session and will be working with partner organizations to oppose this legislation to ban modern sporting rifles and other semi-automatic firearms, along with other short-sighted efforts that seek to severely limit and restrict our hunting heritage and firearms rights.

States Involved

• Washington