Behind the scenes, while everyone is focusing on what’s reporting out of the Judiciary Committee in the federal Senate, things in Illinois have been heating up very quickly, and now they need to hear from gun owners there, once again.

The fight is over a magazine ban. A ten round magazine ban limit was defeated on a house floor vote by 57-59, which is a real squeaker. This bill had no grandfathering. Now the leadership are trying to come up with the votes to get it done, and it’s a very fluid situation. We need people to light em up and flood their phone banks and e-mail servers.

Do I have enough for a news dump? I guess we’ll see. Yesterday was a club meeting, and I expected it to be a particularly contentious one. We also introduced ourselves to the leaders of a local pro-gun movement upstart here in the County on Monday, so time has been scarce. But I’ll give a news dump a good college try:

Gun Culture 2.0 is breaking out all over.

Ignorance can be deadly.

Fear of just about everything. In the taxonomy of gun control supports, you have the fearful, and the condescending. Sure, there are the concerned Americans, but they are a rarer member of the genus.

3D Printer Maker speaks at SXSW. Gun control is an obsolete concept. Clayton Cramer notes a rapidly expanding supply of STL files.

All your base… We are everywhere.

The AR-15 and CT gun companies.

More attacks on SAFE, and about 40 folks in Clinton County turn out to support a resolution denouncing SAFE.

The ammo shortage is not, repeat not, a conspiracy.

Obama is bringing up the armor piercing bullets canard again.

Mark Kelly tries to turn in his AR to the cops, well, how it might go if he really tried. Apparently he also does not know it’s unlawful to sell a gun to someone in another state.

We’ve here in America have eaten all the birds, and constantly drink coffee made from snow. I’m going to guess both of these are common practice in North Korea.

Utah scores dead last in Brady rankings, but how does its crime compared to California?

Apparently the IL governor and Attorney General are at odds as to whether to appeal the 7th circuit ruling to the Supreme Court.

And don’t forget, today the Senate Judiciary Committee will be taking up the Wicked Witch of the West’s gun ban. UPDATE: The danger of posting ahead. Already reported out of Committee, though it wasn’t when I wrote this.

The New York Times reports the semi-auto ban has passed out of committee on a party line vote:

“The road is uphill. I fully understand that,” said Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, the sponsor of the bill, after its passage in the committee. “My passion comes from what I’ve seen on the streets,” she said, adding, “I cannot get out of my mind trying to find the pulse in someone and putting my fingers in a bullet hole.”

Hey, you know what millions of law abiding American gun owners did not do? Shoot Harvey Milk. Well, folks, now we have a floor fight on our hands. These are dangerous times we live in. Apparently Ted Cruz really went after Feinstein.

UPDATE: More from John Richardson, who has details on the Amendment game being played by the GOP.

Their version of the intolerable act failed to pass by several votes. Hopefully the rest of their agenda suffers the same fate, but this is quite promising. Why would Democrats want to jump on the sinking ship?

Shumer had kept the bogus “background check” bill under wraps, only putting forth a shell bill with no specifics. Well, he applied the text through an amendment at the last minute, before it passed. John Richardson has the details, including the text. I’ve only skimmed the details, but here’s the key problems:

• If you left town for more than 7 days, and left your gay partner, or unrelated roommate at home with the guns, you’d be committing a felony. This should be called the “denying gun rights to gays act.” Remember that the federal government does not recognize gay marriage, even if you’re state does, thanks to DOMA. 5 years in prison.
• Actually, even married couples are questionably legal, because the exemption between family only applies to gifts, not to temporary transfers. The 7 day implication is if you leave your spouse at home for more than 7 days, it’s an unlawful transfer, and you’re a 5 year felon. I suppose you could gift them to your spouse, or related co-habitant, and then have them gift them back when you arrive back home. Maybe the Attorney General will decide to create a form for that.
• It would be illegal to lend a gun to a friend to take shooting. That would be a transfer. 5 years in federal prison.
• Steals the livelihood of gun dealers by setting a fixed fee to conduct transfers. The fee is fixed by the Attorney General. What’s to prevent him from setting it at $1000?
• Enacts defacto universal gun registration, because of record keeping requirements.
• All lost and stolen guns must be reported to the federal and local government. This means everyone will have to fill out the theft/loss form, and not just FFLs. You only have 24 hours to comply. If you lose a gun on a hunting trip deep in the woods, and can’t get back home to fill out the form in 24 hours, you’re a felon and will spend 5 years in federal prison.
• Want to lend a gun to a friend to go hunting? It’s a 5 year in prison felony.
• No exception for state permits. All transfers must go through a dealer or 5 years in federal prison.
• UPDATE: Teaching someone to shoot on your own land is a felony, 5 years, if you hand them the gun. Not an exempted transfer.

We will go thermonuclear on anyone who votes for this crap, and that goes double for Republicans. It’s nothing more than an attempt to put more gun owners in prison. Schumer was wise to keep this under wraps, because his bill is truly draconian.  I not only expect the GOP to vote against this piece of crap bill, I expect them to filibuster it. Let’s see if the Democrats can get to 60 without any Republican support, and let’s see how many of them want to lose their seats in 2014.

This bill has nothing to do with ensuring people who are getting guns are law-abiding, and everything to do with getting backdoor registration, and creating a patchwork of rules and laws that will land anyone who uses guns, and isn’t a lawyer, in federal prison for a long time. Lots of otherwise law-abiding people are going to federal prison if this ends up passing, and I’m convinced that’s the whole idea.