Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey issued a statement on social media on January 11, with regard to HB 5471 that was signed by Gov. Pritzker last week. Downey is not alone, as several other Sheriffs issued statements regarding enforcement of HB 5471.
“As your Sheriff, I wanted to give citizens of Kankakee County an update on the recent passage of HB 5471, also known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act.
As your duly-elected Sheriff, my job and my office are sworn, in fact, to protect the citizens of Kankakee County. This is a job and responsibility I take with the utmost seriousness.
Part of my duties that I accepted upon being sworn into office was to protect the rights provided to all of us, in the Constitution. One of those enumerated rights is the right of the people to keep and bear arms provided under the Second Amendment.
The right to keep and bear arms for defense of life, liberty, and property is regarded as an inalienable right by the people. I, among many others, believe that HB 5471 is a clear violation of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official for Kankakee County, that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the state, nor will we be arresting or housing law abiding individuals who have been charged solely with non-compliance of this Act.
-Sheriff Mike Downey”
Governor Pritzker said to the press last week that the Sheriffs can enforce the law or find themselves out of a job. How he intended to ensure that enforcement was not made public.