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The other day I wrote something which I did not make public, regarding the issue facing our Illinois brothers in arms. It was still early in this situation and it basically discussed what we knew at the time. Because it was missing information, and we had not spoken with Rock River Arms (RRA) yet, I did not feel it needed to go public and held back on releasing it. There's no real point to utilize it now, but I wanted folks to have a single thread that covered everything to date, so I figured a new thread was the best approach. All of the items below have been proven fact, nothing is rumor, and I had to speak to a number of folks to ensure accuracy. (There is only one item which could not be proven and is mentioned as such below.)

RRA and Springfield Armory (SA) have been fighting for firearm owner's rights since 2001's push to ban "assault weapons" from the state of Illinois. In 2009 they formed the Illinois Firearm Manufacturers Association (IFMA) and setup rules on how parties could join and what their contributions should be. They hired a lobbyist and went to work. As they were the only two manufacturers to utilize the IFMA, their names are on the documents readily available through the IRS website. (Historic proof available to everyone here.) Since that date the lobbyist, Mr Jay Keller was brought on board. The key piece of information to keep in mind is that Mr Keller was a well regarded lobbyist, but he was not specifically a firearm lobbyist. As such, he was not aware of the historic failings of company in our community and was driven by getting results. The biggest weapon in his arsenal was that he could reach out to Democrat legislators and impact things in ways other lobbyists in the state could not. These two facts are critical to everything which then transpired this year and led us to today.

In a March meeting over SB-1657, a bill with wide impact to Illinois gun owners, Keller stated that if manufacturers (all manufacturers in the state) were given an exemption, the IFMA would go silent at the vote. This was something other lobby groups also did for their respective representation. In short, a number of exemptions were granted and can be seen in the notes from an earlier session. (Available here.) So manufacturers, not just RRA and SA, would be given an exemption, but so would others like brick and mortar stores, police departments, small dealers, folks selling their guns, and so forth. When the vote came on April 27th, the first day of NRA Show, the IFMA took no positions. (Can be seen here.) The bill passed the vote and chaos errupted for everyone involved. (Vote information can be seen here.)

As the community got wind of this, it began to spread and RRA/SA were approached at the NRA show. After speaking with RRA we came to find out that they were not involved with their lobbyist, so this all was a surprise. It was a position they were not accepting of and have since left the IFMA they created and have begun to work with other firearm lobbyists in the state. Regardless of this, the damage has been done and now the fight moves to the next vote. If it passes that, then it go to the Governor's desk where it will have one more chance to be rejected. (You can find the bill status here and the full bill here.)

At this time the focus by the NRA, firearm owners, firearm companies, and others is to defeat this bill from progressing. The lobbyists I spoke to in the state have mentioned that RRA is fighting beside them, which they need.

In my efforts, I also took the time to speak with a couple companies who were gracious enough to walk me through their relationship with lobbyists. For the most part, they hire them and expect them to represent the interests of the company and the firearm community without much assistance. They are not micromanaged and often times go months without contact. There are obvious interactions when critical bills are introduced which need their attention, along with times when they are asked to be more hands on. So for RRA and SA to have relied on their lobbyist to work with freedom was not unusual.

I also spent time speaking to a number of lobbyists, across different states, in regards to donations to speak to representatives. In the case of IFMA, there were donations made to anti gun politicians, which folks have questioned. From what I was able to learn, it is commonplace to have to "pay" for your voice to be heard. Most often it's in smaller amounts, but I did hear that the amounts "required" can be quite staggering. Understand that this is JUST to be able to discuss their lobby's position and try to convince them of how their vote could impact business and communities in the state. Since I did not speak with Keller, I can not say this is what happened with IFMA's donations, but I find it extremely likely that the donations in question were for this exact purpose. Knowing his strength was in reaching across the aisle, it makes even more sense that he would do everything in his power to try to help fight anti gun laws by trying to sway a few extra votes.

With all of this said, I do not believe in the boycotting of any firearm company, as burning one of our own to the ground harms us more than helps. I do, however, feel you should vote with your wallet, which is the loudest voice we have as a group. You are welcome to discuss this matter in this thread and either continue to support these companies or look elsewhere. ARFCOM has decided that ignorance is not a valid excuse and that fault still lies with these companies for not staying on top of such critical legislation. Because of this, we have terminated our relationship with RRA, but are allowing their forum to remain here for them to have a means to communicate with the community. They will only be here to discuss fighting this legislation as they continue forward. Please understand that they are not hiding from the fact that they are at fault by putting too much faith in Keller.

I will ask that folks do not turn to harassing RRA in their forum or on the site and that conversations be kept in appropriate discussions. If I forgot anything, or mistyped something, please correct me. It has been a long couple of days.

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If the bill fails they stand a chance to recover some face, but only if they're leading every single pro-RKBA and 2A effort in this state until memory fades - and we shooters have looooong recall (I know folks who are still pissed at S&W for their Clinton era shenanigans).

If it passes? They'll share a greater degree of guilt as {D}a Machine, because they should have known better.

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They have a "paid" employee with that lobbyist. They should have been more hands on with what the guy was doing, or laid down firm guidelines for him to follow. They literally shot themselves in the ass, it will be a loooong time to recover from this debacle.