CHICAGO (CN) — There are 102 counties in Illinois. Each has a sheriff. One hundred and two men — and they're all men — who enforce state law.
Except when they don't.
Since the start of the year, a majority of county sheriffs in Illinois have stated that they don't plan to enforce the Protect Illinois Communities Act, a sweeping ban on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines state lawmakers passed in January.
What the sheriffs oppose specifically is PICA's effect on private assault weapon owners. The law not only prohibited the sale and purchase of new assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but also forbid, with some exceptions, their private ownership. One of those exceptions was a grandfather measure ensuring those who already owned assault weapon could keep their guns and weapon accessories so long as they registered them with the Illinois State Police before New Year's Day, 2024.
Since the registration portal opened in October, about 52,000 people have done so.
After New Years Day, at least in theory, anyone found owning an unregistered assault weapon or extended magazine could face criminal penalties. But in the days after Democratic Gov. J. B. Pritzker signed PICA into law, sheriffs across the state issued statements saying they believe the bans violate the Second Amendment.
Though a few sheriffs who opposed the ban, like Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley, simply voiced their opposition without saying what it means in practical terms, dozens of others weren't so coy.
"I, among many others, believe that [the Protect Illinois Communities Act] is a clear violation of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution," read a near-identical statement issued by sheriffs across the state in January. "Therefore, as the custodian of the jail and chief law enforcement official for_______ County, that neither myself nor my office will be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the State (sic), nor will we be arresting or housing law abiding individuals that have been arrested solely with non-compliance of this Act."
Since the sheriffs issued their statements, the bans have survived numerous challenges at the state and federal level, ultimately prevailing in both the Illinois Supreme Court and the federal Seventh Circuit of Appeals.
The U.S. Supreme Court has also declined to hear challenges to the ban on not one but two occasions, and just last week even a conservative federal judge in southern Illinois declined to strike down PICA's Jan. 1 registration requirement on a 14th Amendment challenge.
As far as the government is concerned, it is, at least for now, the law of the land in the Land of Lincoln.
Despite this, Courthouse News could find no examples of a sheriff who, after saying he wouldn't enforce the bans in January, reversed course and agreed to abide by the courts' decisions. Of the multiple PICA-opposing sheriffs' offices CNS reached out to for comment, none responded.
This mass non-compliance presents a major political challenge for Illinois' ruling Democrats. It doesn't mean much that the party spent 2023 fighting for PICA in the courts, if those charged with enforcing the law decide they don't care what the courts say.
It's also indicative of the cultural and political divides between liberal, urban Chicagoland in northeastern Illinois and the whiter, more conservative, more rural areas to the states' south and west.
Case in point, among the only sheriffs to support the ban openly are John Idleburg of Lake County, one of the state's only Black sheriffs, representing the northeastern most county in the state, and Tom Dart, representing Cook County, which includes all of Chicago proper and several more liberal collar suburbs.
“Sheriff Dart has been a staunch supporter of this legislation as it is part of his ongoing mission to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of unlawful owners, especially individuals who have had their Firearm Ownder ID cards revoked and individuals who partake in criminal activity," Dart's office told CNS in a prepared statement.