http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...45A1602B8BEFAD4586256FE7001786D5?OpenDocument
Very strange...Tasers are already illegal to use in Illinois. The article is wrong when it states they are currently legal.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilc...0&SeqEnd=59700&ActName=Criminal+Code+of+1961.
Bill would regulate civilians’ Taser use
By Georgina Gustin
Of the Post-Dispatch
As ordinary people look toward Tasers and stun guns for self-protection, Illinois and Missouri are among states seeking ways to regulate or even ban the devices from civilian use.
Illinois residents seeking to buy one would have to receive training and hold a Firearm Owner's Identification Card, under a bill passed Thursday by the Illinois House.
In Missouri, state Sen. Yvonne Wilson, D-Kansas City, introduced a bill that would outlaw the weapons' possession by anyone outside law enforcement.
The Illinois bill, sponsored by Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Greenville, would make prospective buyers register as firearm owners, which requires a background check, and wait 24 hours before taking delivery. The bill also calls for a four-hour course by an approved instructor and would increase the penalty for a crime committed with such a device.
"Is this worthy of attention by the Legislature? I think it is, and my colleagues agree," Stephens said. "You should have the right to own a Taser, but you should have training."
Stephens said the bill would make Illinois the first state where Tasers and stun guns can be legally purchased to put restrictions on them.
It is illegal to purchase a Taser or stun gun in seven states and Washington, D.C., as well as in some cities, including Chicago. They are legal and unregulated in the rest, meaning anyone can purchase one through a dealer or off the Internet.
In Illinois it is illegal to carry concealed, loaded firearms - which under the law include Tasers and stun guns. But Stephens said he plans to file a "trailer bill" that would clearly exempt Tasers and stun guns from that provision.
The Illinois State Police support the original bill, but a spokesman would not comment on permitting concealed carry.
A Taser is a pistol-like device that uses compressed nitrogen to fire barbs that penetrate clothing or skin and deliver a jolt of electricity through wires that remain attached to the user's handle. It generally causes incapacitation long enough for an officer to handcuff a suspect - or a civilian to flee a confrontation. A stun gun, by contrast, delivers a jolt from direct contact with a device held by its user.
Taser International, the company that makes the devices, has promoted Tasers as an effective nonlethal law enforcement tool, and police agencies have responded. As of 2003, they were in use at 2,500 U.S. law enforcement agencies, including some in the St. Louis area.
Late last year, Taser International, which began selling its products to law enforcement agencies in 1998, started marketing a version to the public, generating fresh interest - and concern - from lawmakers.
Sen. Wilson and other critics worry that the weapons are too easy to obtain and can be used to commit crimes.
"I've heard some horrible stories of incidents where Tasers are used against women to disable them as they were walking to their cars," Wilson said. "And I'm afraid of what might happen with kids at bus stops or on college campuses."
Taser International has come under fire by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is investigating the company's safety claims. In the company's latest SEC filing, the company said it had been sued 18 times since April 2003 for personal injury or wrongful death.
Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called for studies into how Tasers affect patients with cardiac problems, epilepsy or multiple sclerosis. Many police departments have said they intend to re-examine the safety issue.
Tasers sold to the public are less powerful, with shorter wires than those sold to police. They also release tiny coded identification tags every time they are fired. The tags contain serial numbers that can be traced back to the owner.
The technology, Taser International has said, is an improvement over traditional stun guns, which have to be fired at close range and often don't debilitate strong or determined targets.
Steven King, owner of the Belleville Shooting Range and an approved Taser instructor, said he has sold many Tasers, particularly to women and older people, since he began stocking them last fall. "They don't want to carry a firearm, so they carry a Taser," King said.
King explained that when he sells a Taser, he fills out a registration card and sends it to the company, which then contacts the new owner of the device with information about nearby certified trainers.
But King believes few people actually seek out training. "I don't think it's been a real success," he said of Taser's pro-training efforts.
While King said he was supportive of a law that would require Taser owners to have a Firearm Owner's Identification Card, legally mandating training represents something of a contradiction.
"We don't require training for firearms," he noted. "Why require it for Tasers?"
A spokesman for Taser did not return calls last week but sent an e-mail response to a Post-Dispatch inquiry.
"Taser International continues to support thoughtful state and local legislative initiatives which promote the responsible use of remote stun guns and enhance the penalties for the misuse of these self-defense weapons including our Taser devices. We do, however, have some technical and practical issues with Rep. Stephens' legislation; most notably the fact that HB2941 effectively redefines remote stun guns as firearms in direct contravention of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms rulings."
Reporter Georgina Gustin
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-659-3640
Very strange...Tasers are already illegal to use in Illinois. The article is wrong when it states they are currently legal.
http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilc...0&SeqEnd=59700&ActName=Criminal+Code+of+1961.
(720 ILCS 5/Art. 24 heading) ARTICLE 24. DEADLY WEAPONS
(720 ILCS 5/24‑1) (from Ch. 38, par. 24‑1)
Sec. 24‑1. Unlawful Use of Weapons.
(a) A person commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons when he knowingly:
(1) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or
carries any bludgeon, black‑jack, slung‑shot, sand‑club, sand‑bag, metal knuckles, throwing star, or any knife, commonly referred to as a switchblade knife, which has a blade that opens automatically by hand pressure applied to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or a ballistic knife, which is a device that propels a knifelike blade as a projectile by means of a coil spring, elastic material or compressed gas; or
(2) Carries or possesses with intent to use the same unlawfully against another, a dagger, dirk, billy, dangerous knife, razor, stiletto, broken bottle or other piece of glass, stun gun or taser or any other dangerous or deadly weapon or instrument of like character; or
(3) Carries on or about his person or in any vehicle, a tear gas gun projector or bomb or any object containing noxious liquid gas or substance, other than an object containing a non‑lethal noxious liquid gas or substance designed solely for personal defense carried by a person 18 years of age or older; or
(4) Carries or possesses in any vehicle or concealed on or about his person except when on his land or in his own abode or fixed place of business any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm, except that this subsection (a) (4) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non‑functioning state;
or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card; or
(5) Sets a spring gun; or
(6) Possesses any device or attachment of any kind designed, used or intended for use in silencing the report of any firearm; or
(7) Sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses or carries:
(i) a machine gun, which shall be defined for the purposes of this subsection as any weapon, which shoots, is designed to shoot, or can be readily restored to shoot, automatically more than one shot without manually reloading by a single function of the trigger, including the frame or receiver of any such weapon, or sells, manufactures, purchases, possesses, or carries any combination of parts designed or intended for use in converting any weapon into a machine gun, or any combination or parts from which a machine gun can be assembled if such parts are in the possession or under the control of a person;
(ii) any rifle having one or more barrels less than 16 inches in length or a shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length or any weapon made from a rifle or shotgun, whether by alteration, modification, or otherwise, if such a weapon as modified has an overall length of less than 26 inches; or
(iii) any bomb, bomb‑shell, grenade, bottle or other container containing an explosive substance of over one‑quarter ounce for like purposes, such as, but not limited to, black powder bombs and Molotov cocktails or artillery projectiles; or
(8) Carries or possesses any firearm, stun gun or taser or other deadly weapon in any place which is licensed to sell intoxicating beverages, or at any public gathering held pursuant to a license issued by any governmental body or any public gathering at which an admission is charged, excluding a place where a showing, demonstration or lecture involving the exhibition of unloaded firearms is conducted.
This subsection (a)(8) does not apply to any auction or raffle of a firearm held pursuant to a license or permit issued by a governmental body, nor does it apply to persons engaged in firearm safety training courses; or
(9) Carries or possesses in a vehicle or on or about his person any pistol, revolver,stun gun or taser or firearm or ballistic knife, when he is hooded, robed or masked in such manner as to conceal his identity; or
(10) Carries or possesses on or about his person, upon any public street, alley, or other public lands within the corporate limits of a city, village or incorporated town, except when an invitee thereon or therein, for the purpose of the display of such weapon or the lawful commerce in weapons, or except when on his land or in his own abode or fixed place of business, any pistol, revolver, stun gun or taser or other firearm, except that this subsection (a) (10) does not apply to or affect transportation of weapons that meet one of the following conditions:
(i) are broken down in a non‑functioning state; or
(ii) are not immediately accessible; or
(iii) are unloaded and enclosed in a case, firearm carrying box, shipping box, or other container by a person who has been issued a currently valid Firearm Owner's Identification Card.
A "stun gun or taser", as used in this paragraph (a) means (i) any device which is powered by electrical charging units, such as, batteries, and which fires one or several barbs attached to a length of wire and which, upon hitting a human, can send out a current capable of disrupting the person's nervous system in such a manner as to render him incapable of normal functioning or (ii) any device which is powered by electrical charging units, such as batteries, and which, upon contact with a human or clothing worn by a human, can send out current capable of disrupting the person's nervous system in such a manner as to render him incapable of normal functioning; or
(11) Sells, manufactures or purchases any explosive bullet. For purposes of this paragraph (a) "explosive bullet" means the projectile portion of an ammunition cartridge which contains or carries an explosive charge which will explode upon contact with the flesh of a human or an animal. "Cartridge" means a tubular metal case having a projectile affixed at the front thereof and a cap or primer at the rear end thereof, with the propellant contained in such tube between the projectile and the cap; or
(12) (Blank).
(b) Sentence. A person convicted of a violation of subsection 24‑1(a)(1) through (5), subsection 24‑1(a)(10), or subsection 24‑1(a)(11) commits a Class A misdemeanor. A person convicted of a violation of subsection 24‑1(a)(8) or 24‑1(a)(9) commits a Class 4 felony; a person convicted of a violation of subsection 24‑1(a)(6) or 24‑1(a)(7)(ii) or (iii) commits a Class 3 felony. A person convicted of a violation of subsection 24‑1(a)(7)(i) commits a Class 2 felony, unless the weapon is possessed in the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle as defined in Section 1‑146 of the Illinois Vehicle Code, or on the person, while the weapon is loaded, in which case it shall be a Class X felony. A person convicted of a second or subsequent violation of subsection 24‑1(a)(4), 24‑1(a)(8), 24‑1(a)(9), or 24‑1(a)(10) commits a Class 3 felony.