Illinois lawmakers on Tuesday handed an assault weapons ban, six months after a mass capturing at a Fourth of July parade within the Chicago suburb of Highland Park left seven lifeless and dozens wounded.
The state is the ninth within the nation to ban assault weapons.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker mentioned in an announcement he plans to “instantly” signal the Defend Illinois Communities Act, which features a ban on assault weapons and large-capacity magazines, amongst different gun security reforms.
“For too lengthy individuals have lived in worry of being gunned down in colleges, whereas worshipping, at celebrations or in their very own entrance yards,” Pritzker mentioned. “This laws will cease the unfold of assault weapons, high-capacity magazines, and switches and makes our state a safer place for all.”
What to find out about assault weapons bans
- Usually, assault weapons are semiautomatic firearms which have combat-style options permitting a shooter to rapidly discharge giant quantities of ammunition.
- 9 states and Washington have handed assault weapons bans, and three others have extra security necessities on the weapons.
- The U.S. had a federal assault weapons ban from 1994 to 2004. The legislation prohibited the sale and manufacture of sure military-style semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.
- The U.S. Home handed an assault weapons ban this summer season, lower than a month after the Highland Park capturing. However the invoice has not gained traction within the Senate.
Which states ban assault weapons?
Assault weapons utilized in mass shootings
Assault weapons have an “outsized impression” on damage and demise, Kyleanne Hunter, a senior political scientist on the RAND Company, testified earlier than a Senate committee this summer season. Whereas the weapons are used within the minority of firearm homicides, they’re disproportionately utilized in mass shootings, significantly public mass shootings, Hunter mentioned.
“When an assault weapon is utilized in one among these shootings, there are greater than 14 occasions extra accidents and twice as many deaths than when another sort of weapon is used. And it is as a result of these weapons had been designed to kill as many individuals as rapidly as potential,” Hunter mentioned.
Shooters used assault weapons geared up with large-capacity magazines within the mass shootings in Las Vegas, Orlando, Newtown, Sutherland Springs, El Paso, Uvalde, Parkland, Aurora and Dayton, in line with the gun security advocacy group Giffords Regulation Heart to Forestall Gun Violence.
Within the Highland Park capturing, the gunman used a semiautomatic rifle to fireside 83 rounds into the group in lower than a minute, killing seven individuals and wounding about 30 others, in line with Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering.
What the Illinois assault weapons ban does
The legislation prohibits the sale, manufacture, possession and buy of assault-style weapons, assault weapon attachments, and .50 caliber cartridges within the state of Illinois. Individuals who at the moment personal assault weapons should not be required to give up them however need to register them with state police.
Whereas some lawmakers proposed elevating the age for firearm proprietor identification card candidates to 21, the legislation doesn’t improve the age, which stays at 18. Lengthy weapons can have a restrict of 10 rounds per journal and handguns is not going to be allowed to have greater than 15 rounds of ammunition.
The restraining order for these wishing to buy a firearm however who’ve been discovered to be a “important hazard of inflicting private damage to himself,” per the invoice, was additionally elevated to a most of 12 months — up from six months.
Activists need to see federal ban
Highland Park resident Rachel Jacoby, 26, an organizer with March for Our Lives, mentioned it should not have taken a tragedy to spur lawmakers to move an assault weapons ban. On the similar time, the legislation is a “massive win,” she mentioned.
“As younger individuals, we shouldn’t have to fret about being shot with an assault weapon each time we go to highschool, parks, film theaters or parades,” Jacoby mentioned. “This legislation makes that potential.”
Kitty Brandtner, 35, founding father of March Fourth, an advocacy group that fashioned within the wake of the Highland Park capturing, mentioned activists plan to proceed placing stress on federal lawmakers.
“Each day they wait to ban assault weapons nationwide is one other alternative for mindless tragedy as a result of weapons don’t respect state traces,” Brandtner mentioned.
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Contributing: Patrick Keck, State Journal-Register
