Illinois Valley Times

Putnam County Sheriff Joshua B. Boedigheimer is opposing the state’s sweeping gun ban. 

Boedigheimer is joining a long list of sheriffs and state's attorneys who said they will not enforce the newly enacted gun law. 

“As your Sheriff, I wanted to give citizens of Putnam County an update on the recent passage of HB 5471, also known as the Protect Illinois Communities Act. Part of this act restricts the sale of certain firearms, as well as, requires individuals to register certain restricted firearms in their possession.” Boedigheimer said in a statement. “As your duly elected Sheriff, my office and I are sworn to protect the citizens of Putnam County. This is a job and responsibility that I take with the utmost seriousness. We are very concerned and disturbed by the ongoing and escalating violence throughout our State and Country. We are always supportive of new tools, techniques and laws that assist us in preventing and holding accountable those that wage efforts of harm and violence on others. However, this new law does not do that; in fact, it puts more restrictions on lawful gun owners while ignoring those that violate the gun laws already in place.” 

Describing himself as "the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official for Putnam County,"  Boedigheimer pledged that neither himself, nor his office, "will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their firearms with the State," nor will they be arresting or housing law-abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this act.

“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," the sheriff added. "One of those enumerated rights is the right of the people to keep and bear arms, provided under the 2nd Amendment. I, among many others, believe that HB 5471 is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution.” 

At least 95 sheriffs in Illinois have said they will not enforce the ban on over 170 types of firearms.

DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick told Chicago’s Morning Answer radio host Dan Proft that U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) called him regarding enforcement of the law and “got nasty,” Dupage Policy Journal reported. Mendrick said in addition to being unconstitutional the law is ineffective. "There is absolutely nothing that we are doing or not doing that would make a mass shooting more accessible in DuPage County," he said. "In fact, I have asked on multiple occasions to increase penalties on all existing gun crimes, but it does not appear that they want to have that conversation.”

The Protect Illinois Communities Act, HB 5471, classifies all semi-automatic weapons as assault weapons. The ban affects 170 types of guns commonly available in the state. The law requires that certain firearms be registered for $50 apiece. As many as five million firearms and ten million magazines in the state may be affected. Gun rights advocates have begun litigation against the state, claiming it is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment, according to Chicago City Wire.

Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison ruled the law unconstitutional and issued a temporary restraining order. That means the ban will not be applied to the 866 plaintiffs represented by Greenville attorney Thomas DeVore until it can be heard in court. In the wake of the Effingham County challenge nearly 1,700 additional plaintiffs have signed onto the legal action. “We will see if the state wants to appeal. If not, we’ll work on getting this pursued to a final ruling so we can get to the merits of these issues, sooner rather than later,” DeVore, last year’s GOP candidate for attorney general, told The Center Square.