Illinois Lawmakers Want Gun Buyers To Reveal Their Social Media Accounts

A customer tries out a Remington 1911 equipped with a silencer

Lawmakers in Illinois are taking a page of out New York's book with a new proposal that would force anybody who wishes to obtain a firearms license to reveal their social media accounts to the police. The bill is sponsored by two Democrats including State Representative Daniel Didech, who argues that the new law would help keep guns out of the hands of people with mental illness or who have made threatening statements on social media.

The proposed law comes after two high profile mass shootings in 2018 where the killers made disturbing remarks on social media before their attacks.

“A lot of people who are having mental health issues will often post on their social media pages that they’re about to hurt themselves or others,” Rep. Didech told WBBM. “We need to give those people the help they need.”

Not everybody is on board with the law, including the Illinois State Rifle Association, which blasted the legislation.

“When people look at this everyone who has a Facebook account or email account or Twitter account will be incensed or should be,” said Richard Pearson with the Illinois State Rifle Association.

The Illinois law does not go as far as the proposed New York law, which would require people who wish to obtain a firearms license to hand over their social media and search engine history to authorities for inspection.

Photo: Getty Images


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