
Cook County, Illinois, home of the nation’s largest open-air shooting gallery, otherwise known as Chicago, has a long and storied history of crime, corruption, and Second Amendment infringement. And today, between the gang members and the politicians who support them in an unholy alliance, that disregard for the rule of law and enumerated civil rights continues.
The latest involves Cook County’s ordinance establishing targeted taxes on the exercise of the right to keep and bear arms – specifically guns and ammo. Guns Save Life, an aggressive gun rights organization in Illinois known for its “in your face” activism, filed a lawsuit challenging the gun and ammo tax shortly after it was enacted in 2015. That case went all the way to the Illinois Supreme Court which ruled in 2021 that the tax ordinance was unconstitutional. The Illinois Supremes ordered the trial court to enter a summary judgement in favor of Guns Save Life.
Cook County then amended their ordinance and has been slow-walking the legal process with endless filings ever since. At long last, about a week ago, a Cook County trial court judge struck down the ordinance, again at the direction of the Illinois Supreme Court.
It was a simple two-page order.
Even after losing in the state’s highest court, Cook County has made it clear to the plaintiffs of the case, Guns Save Life, that they have no intention of ending its illegal collection of taxes on every gun sold in the county along with the ammo to feed them.
It’s almost like Cook County doesn’t think it has to follow the rule of law or court orders as the rest of us do. Then again, it’s not like flouting the rule of law is anything new for Chicago, at least when it comes to immigration law, but that’s a topic for another day. Guns Save Life’s legal team, however, has a surprise in the works for the Cook County bureaucrats. We’ll reveal that to them in the coming days.
Ultimately, if Cook County wants to continue to act like petulant children as a result of their loss, this case could end up in front of the US Supreme Court. If that happens and SCOTUS rules our way on the Second Amendment count within the suit, that could mean an end of gun and ammo surtaxes nationwide.
Mark Smith at Four Boxes talked about that a little bit.
The jurisdictions that currently have those onerous gun and ammo taxes might wind up losing that income stream…all thanks to the hoplophobic boneheads in Chicago, with a little help from Guns Save Life. That would be a shame.
John Boch is Executive Director of Guns Save Life.
if they stop collecting, cabela’s owes you a nice dinner and a case of .308.
but with even the scotus decisions being ignored, i doubt it.
hard to believe anyone is stupid enough to buy in cook.
A shame indeed. How do Cook Co. Gun shops remain cimpetitive with surtaxes loke this?
Identify the specific individuals within the Cook County government who are making the decision to ignore the rights and protections afforded by the Illinois and United States Constitutions. As they, being vested with public authority, have declared themselves not bound by the law, i.e., outside of the law, then treat them accordingly.
They are outlaws, neither deserving of nor afforded any protections of the law. Resolving situations of this sort is exactly why we have the right to keep and bear arms.
File civil rights charges with the new US Attorney in February.
It would be interesting to see what the Trump DOJ Civil Rights Division would do with this case.
One would hope they are ordered to disgorge their unlawful revenue. Perhaps ordered to give it to the NRA.
Don’t give a penny to the corrupt NRA
Maybe it’s time for the feds to take over. Did you idiots in Cook County forget that you are in the United States and have to abide by the Constitution and the SCOTUS actions? It’s about time all you liberal democrats start abiding by the laws of the land! YOU ARE NOT IMMUNE TO THOSE LAWS!!!!
i can’t stop seeing egads.
Was the Illinois Supreme Court decision based on the state or federal constitution? Presumably the latter, because if the former there is no appeal to SCOTUS.
Guns Save Lives might want to launch a fundraising campaign ln Colorado.