Republicans, make Illinois safer. Support the proposed state assault weapons ban.

By The Editorial Board of The Chicago Tribune

December 6, 2022

CHICAGO - When a bullet from an assault rifle strikes someone’s body, the destruction usually is far worse than the damage a bullet from a handgun does. An AR-15 bullet wields so much speed and energy — three times more than a round from a handgun — that it damages tissue several inches on either side of the path it cuts. The bullet’s exit wound is gaping, at times the size of an orange.

Imagine what kind of terror rained on people at last summer’s Independence Day parade in Highland Park, allegedly from an assault rifle in the hands of Robert Crimo III, now facing trial on an array of counts, including first-degree murder. Police say Crimo fired more than 70 shots, killing seven people and injuring dozens of others. One of the survivors, courageous 8-year-old Cooper Roberts, is back home after months of recovery, but he remains paralyzed.

All of that should be reason enough for the Illinois General Assembly to pass the Protect Illinois Communities Act, sweeping gun control reform that includes a statewide ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.

We know many Republican lawmakers, particularly those from downstate districts, will make predictable arguments about how it’s not the gun, it’s about the person brandishing it. And it is true that guns do not fire themselves. But if there was ever a piece of legislation that should be handled in nonpartisan fashion, this is that piece of legislation.

Every facet of this legislation is a common-sense improvement to existing gun control laws in Illinois, which already are some of the country’s most stringent.

The proposed legislation does more than ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. It bars anyone under 21 from obtaining an Illinois firearm owner’s identification card. The only exception would be if the individual is on active duty with the Illinois National Guard or the U.S. military.

The rationale for this measure is straightforward. Youths between 18 and 20, particularly males, tend to be more impulsive and less aware of the “consequences of risk-taking behavior in comparison to adults,” according to a report recently released by the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. Most American adults don’t need a study to know that this is the case. They invariably have seen it for themselves.

Crimo was 19 when he obtained his FOID card. His father served as his sponsor, which Illinois requires for those under 21 seeking an FOID card. Salvador Ramos was 18 when he walked into Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, with an AR-15-style rifle and shot to death 19 children and two teachers last May. Nikolas Cruz was 19 when he used an AR-15-style rifle to murder 14 students and three faculty members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018. Sentenced to life in prison, Cruz was 18 when he bought the rifle he used.

What did Crimo, Ramos and Cruz have in common? They were all too young and troubled to be allowed to purchase a firearm.

Illinois is smart to have a red flag law on its books, but it needs strengthening. The state’s current law allows police or family members to seek a court order to confiscate guns from individuals who are deemed “an immediate and present danger” to themselves or others. The court order, known as a firearm restraining order, lasts for six months. That’s not long enough.

The new law would extend the duration of firearm restraining orders to a year and allow for prosecutors to help in the acquisition of a firearm restraining order. Red flag laws separate guns from people whose behavior makes it clear they’re likely prone to violence. The longer the separation, the more “cool-down” time those individuals have to resolve what’s troubling them.

The General Assembly is expected to vote on the Protect Illinois Communities Act in January.

Strong support from Republicans would send Illinois, as well as the rest of the country, a message that it’s not only possible to reach nonpartisan consensus on something as potentially lifesaving as an assault weapons ban — it’s vital.

The new law doesn’t wrest any Second Amendment rights from gun owners. It doesn’t impinge on anyone’s right to carry a firearm for self-defense purposes, or to hunt or shoot for sport.

Its mission is blatantly simple — to make Illinoisans safer.

That’s a goal every lawmaker, from every part of the Land of Lincoln, should get behind. Democrats and Republicans.