(The Center Square) – With a lame duck session for the Illinois statehouse set to begin, all eyes were on what happens with a proposed gun ban.
House Bill 5855 would ban the future sale of nearly 100 different semi-automatic rifles, shotguns and pistols and require current owners to register them with Illinois State Police. It also would ban the sale and possession of magazines that hold more than 10 rounds and prohibit anyone under 21 from getting a Firearm Owner ID card needed to own or purchase guns or ammo.
Gun control advocates and victims of gun violence have been advocating for passage of the law. A group named Protecting Illinois Communities, which is the name of the proposed bill, released an ad urging that the gun ban pass.
“We have to all wake up and protect all our children,” Mary Dieudonne-Hill says in the ad. “We can save lives passing these critical gun bills.”
Todd Vandermyde, a longtime gun-owner rights advocate, said on his YouTube channel opponents of the measure don’t plan to negotiate on what kinds of guns to ban.
“You’re just educating them on how to build a better mousetrap,” Vandermyde said. “The broader it is, the more heinous it is, the more all-encompassing it is, the easier it’s going to be to kill in court.”
Gun-owner rights groups vow to sue if the measure passes.
Sponsor of the bill, state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, has said Democratic lawmakers will attempt to pass the measure in the lame duck session before it ends Jan. 10.
“We’re seeing a lot of states move in this direction and I believe we’ll have a constitutional bill when we pass it,” Morgan said.
Vandermyde said a series of recent rulings from federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, could indicate a shift in how the judicial branch handles Second Amendment rights.
“We will do a lot better because the broader it is, and we have the benefit of these other decisions that are out there,” Vandermyde said.
The new General Assembly starts Jan. 11. All previous legislation expires then, with lawmakers preparing to file new bills for the next two-year term.
