Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA)

Are you familiar with the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA)? PICA bans the manufacture and sale of assault weapons in Illinois and requires current owners of existing semi-automatic rifles to register their weapons by January 1, 2024. 

PICA serves as a vital shield to safeguard our most vulnerable: our children, families, and communities, from the specter of gun violence. PICA protects lives — without violating our 2nd Amendment rights – as was affirmed when the Illinois Supreme Court upheld this law.

The gun lobby is trying to weaken the rules for implementation concerning persons who own assault or semi-automatic weapons. The Illinois State Police (ISP) have held three public hearings to collect comments on the implementation and enforcement of this law.

The preliminary rules are in place, but you still can add your comments or concerns. For more information on PICA, including a list of banned weapons and FAQs, go to https://www.isp.illinois.gov/Home/AssaultWeapons. 

Karina’s Bill

October was Domestic Violence Awareness Month which focused attention on domestic or intimate partner violence. This violence is a pervasive social and public health crisis that predominantly impacts women and children. When a gun is available to the domestic abuser, a woman is five times more likely to be killed.

One recent example in Illinois is Karina Gonzalez, who was killed two weeks after being granted an order of protection. She and her 15-year-old daughter, Daniella, were shot and killed in their home by Karina’s abusive husband. Karina’s Bill, SB 2633, requires firearm removal within 48 hours when domestic violence survivors are granted an emergency order of protection. This bill was passed by the Illinois House and proposed in the veto session this November, but was not brought up for a vote. Watch for this bill in the next Illinois legislative session in January and advocate for its passage.

Bipartisan Safer Communities Act

On the federal level, the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (P.L. 117-159) is the most significant piece of gun safety legislation passed by Congress in nearly 30 years. This law gives states additional funding to ensure deadly weapons are kept out of the hands of those a court has determined to be a danger to themselves or others. This law also takes important steps to prevent domestic violence abusers from purchasing guns, and it cracks down on illicit straw purchases and gun trafficking. Further, it makes significant investments in community violence intervention initiatives and school- and community-based mental health services to help reduce the threat of violence across our country.

United States v. Rahimi

A U.S. Supreme Court case is pending regarding domestic abuse victim protection rights. The majority of Americans, 82% according to a 2023 poll, agree that domestic abusers shouldn’t have guns, but a lower court ruled that they have a constitutional right to arm themselves. #SCOTUS began consideration of United States v. Rahimi on November 7th with oral arguments.

The case centers on an incident involving Zackey Rahimi, a Texas man who physically assaulted his girlfriend in a parking lot in 2019 and later told her that he would shoot her if she reported the incident. She petitioned a Texas state court to grant a domestic violence restraining order; the order was granted and included a provision barring Rahimi from possessing a firearm while it was in effect.

Rahimi later threatened a different woman with a gun and was charged with assault with a deadly weapon. In a two-month period following that incident, he shot off guns in public on five separate occasions, including shooting an AR-15 assault rifle into the home of someone who had once bought drugs from him and shooting into the air at a fast food restaurant when a friend’s credit card was declined. When police searched Rahimi’s house, they found multiple firearms and rounds of ammunition, and Rahimi was charged with violating the ban on possessing firearms.

Myth: Guns Make You Safer

Fact: Access to unsecured firearms contributes to gun violence among children and teens. Each year, nearly 350 children under the age of 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else. That’s roughly one unintentional shooting per day, and 70% of these incidents take place inside a home. More than 700 children die by gun suicide each year, most often using guns belonging to a family member. Unsecured firearms also fuel gun theft and violence outside the home.

Fact: We are all safer when guns are stored unloaded, locked, and separate from ammunition. One study found that households that locked both firearms and ammunition were associated with a 78% lower risk of self-inflicted firearm injuries and an 85% lower risk of unintentional firearm injuries among children, compared to those that locked neither. 

Fact: Despite the risks to safety, the majority of gun owners do not practice secure gun storage.  Every day, 120 Americans are killed with guns and more than 200 are shot and wounded. 

There are a lot of widespread myths and conflicting information about guns, gun violence, and gun safety in America. To set the record straight, you can help dispel some of the most prominent myths about gun violence.

What You Can Do: 

• Be informed about current gun safety legislation, and voice your support.

• Educate the people in your life about these important issues by sharing information to counter gun myths with your friends and family.

• Use the Moms Demand Action Be Smart for Kids guidelines for secure storage of guns to save children’s lives. SMART is a reminder of safety tips for parents. For example, “A” reminds us to ask about the presence of unsecured firearms in other homes. To keep children safe, we now need to ask about more than allergies and alcohol when our children visit other homes.

The world and society are no longer confined to the binary; we are free to think creatively, passionately, and no longer constrained to antiquated ideas about gender. Instead society accepts people for who they are and can exist in non-binary, genderless, transgender, or genderfluid ways. Whether we are in the 2SLGBTQIA+ (Two Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, Intersexual, Asexual, and more) community or an ally it is our responsibility to use proper gender identity terms to show respect and acceptance. 

To be an ally and demonstrate that courtesy to our fellow humans, understanding the correct terms to use is a vital step forward. Included are a few definitions from NPR journalist Laurel Wamsley to clarify the sometimes confusing gender landscape.  

• Sex = biological status, typically assigned at birth on the basis of internal/external anatomy, generally categorized as male, female, or intersex.

• Gender = defined by social construct of norms, behaviors and roles that varies within societies and overtime, often categorized as male, female, or nonbinary.

• Gender Identity = internal sense of self and gender, which is not outwardly visible, does not always align with the sex assigned at birth. 

• Gender Expression = external expression of gender, through behavior, clothing, or other characteristics.  

• Cisgender or Cis = an adjective that is used when a person’s gender identity aligns with the sex assigned at birth.

• Transgender or Trans = an adjective that is used when a person’s gender identity differs from the sex assigned at birth.

• Nonbinary = a term that can be used to describe oneself if their gender identity doesn’t fit into the category of male or female. There is a wide range of terms that can be used such as; genderqueer, genderfluid, gender-expansive (might also be associated with the gender binary), and more.

• Agender = an adjective for a person who does not identity as any gender

• Gender Dysphoria = the psychological distress that results from an incongruence between one’s sex assigned at birth and gender identity.

• Sexual Orientation = the physical, romantic and/or emotional attraction to members of the same and/or other genders, including lesbian, gay, bi, pan, and straight orientations. This is completely separate from gender identity and is not based on specific sexual experiences or romantic relationships.

• Intersex = general term to describe people with reproductive anatomy, chromosomes, or hormones that don’t fit the binary of male and female. This is based on biology not gender identity.

Actions to take:

• When meeting someone new, don’t assume their pronouns, instead lead by sharing yours and/or asking theirs.
• Try to leave grammar at the door and show acceptance by using They/Them pronouns
• Normalize sharing pronouns in social settings by sharing yours and writing them on name tags, email signatures, etc.
• Never assume someone else’s gender identity
• Never ask someone what kind of reproductive organs they have
• If there are gender neutral bathrooms consider using them instead of a gendered option
• Look for future announcements from the IACT team with calls for action to support legislative efforts at the Local, State, and National level to help the 2SLGBTQIA+ community 
• Be prepared to act, to stand up in support of those most vulnerable 

Additional Reading Materials: 

A Guide To Gender Identity Terms (article)

Pronoun Guide (article)

Sex Assigned at Birth and Gender Identity: What Is The Difference? (Video)

What Does it Mean to be Genderfluid? (Video)

A quick & easy guide to they/them pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni, Tristan Jimerson (Short Graphic Novel)

A quick & easy guide to queer & trans identities by Mady G and J.R. Zuckerberg (Short Graphic Novel)

Extensive resource list and links from Youth Outlook (website)

It is hard to believe, unfathomable actually, that gender equality under the law still eludes us in the United States. This is why we need a constitutional amendment, the 28th Amendment, that makes gender equality the law of the land in the U.S., and one that can not be easily taken away, as we have seen across many states in the past several years. 

AAUW National states it best:

The progress our country has made on gender equality through the courts and patchwork legislation can be reversed. Sex discrimination does not have the same legal protection as other constitutional classes, such as race, religion, or nationality. This constitutional double standard means that hard-won legislative and court victories against sex discrimination are not permanent—and can be rolled back or difficult to enforce.

The lack of constitutional equality reaches every aspect of women’s lives. The ERA would clarify, once and for all, that sex discrimination in employment and wages, reproductive rights, insurance, Social Security, education, and more is a violation of constitutional rights. Importantly, the ERA would also provide new opportunities to seek legal recourse when an individual faces sex discrimination and would place the burden of proof on those who discriminate instead of those fighting for equality. (“Where We Stand: Equal Rights Amendment – AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881”)

Our approach now, given that 38 states have ratified the ERA [Equal Rights Amendment]t as of early 2020, is to force the Archivist of the United States to publish the amendment via a lawsuit by the states of Illinois, Nevada, and Virginia; a joint resolution, passed with bipartisan support in the House in 2021, to force the Archivist  to publish the Amendment and to remove the 1982 date that was originally assigned to state support; and a new resolution, nicknamed the “start over amendment” which states largely the same points as the original ERA. 

The ERA Coalition, of which AAUW is a member, stated in April, 2023 after the Senate did not vote for cloture on the bipartisan resolution to affirm the ERA:

A bipartisan majority of Senators are now on record in favor of affirming the Equal Rights Amendment as valid and removing the time limit, reflecting the will of the vast majority of the American public. But still, a minority of Senators are hiding behind the Senate’s archaic rules instead of saying what they really mean: they’re against equality. Let’s be clear, the Equal Rights Amendment didn’t fall short, democracy did.

Opponents are hiding behind a procedural excuse because they know that if the ERA resolution came to the floor, equality would win. (“ERA Coalition Statement on the Senate Failing to Advance Bipartisan Resolution to Affirm the Equal Rights Amendment and Remove the Time Limit”)

We need your continued support!  

• Please contact your congresspeople to support HJ Res. 82 ERA Now by clicking here. 
• Sign the latest petition from the ERA Coalition here.
• Follow the ERA Coalition to stay up to date and advocate on all future petitions here.

Works Cited

“ERA Coalition Statement on the Senate Failing to Advance Bipartisan Resolution to Affirm the Equal Rights Amendment and Remove the Time Limit.” ERA Coalition Blog, 27 April 2023, https://eracoalition.blog/2023/04/27/era-coalition-statement-on-the-senate-failing-to-advance-bipartisan-resolution-to-affirm-the-equal-rights-amendment-and-remove-the-time-limit/. Accessed 17 September 2023.

“Where We Stand: Equal Rights Amendment – AAUW : Empowering Women Since 1881.” AAUW, https://www.aauw.org/resources/policy/position-era/. Accessed 17 September 2023.