Proposed ‘assault weapon’ ban takes first lap through House committee with focus on victims of gun violence

By Ben Szalinski for The Daily Line

December 13, 2022

CHICAGO - A bill to ban semi-automatic weapons faced its first test in front of the House Judiciary- Criminal Committee Monday as Illinois lawmakers consider legislation that could make Illinois the ninth state to ban “assault weapons.”   

Monday’s hearing focused on the victims of gun violence and was the first of three subject matter hearings over the next week on the bill.  

In addition to banning new sales of semi-automatic weapons in Illinois, the bill (HB5855) by Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) also limits the sale of large capacity magazines, raises the age for owning a Firearm Owner Identification (FOID) card to 21 and boosts the state’s firearm restraining order, also known as red flag laws, to one year instead of six months.   

The bill requires current owners of “assault weapons” to register their guns with the state or face penalties. Illegal sale or possession of an “assault weapon” is a Class 3 felony for the first offense. The bill does carve out some exceptions for members of the military and those using their guns for sporting competitions.    

California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and the District of Columbia already have “assault weapons” bans.    

The bill has 32 cosponsors, all Democrats. House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), who has previously expressed possible support for a semi-automatic weapons ban, attended Monday’s committee and said he’s interested in listening to the arguments.  

“I consider today’s testimony and the other ones an opportunity for me to understand that human face and that human factor and to listen,” Durkin said.  

Monday’s hearing focused on victims of gun violence with those who have experienced mass shootings or have lost family members to gun violence sharing their experience with lawmakers in a packed committee room in Chicago.  

“Several veterans have said to me it looked just like Afghanistan; it looked just like Iraq… why is it acceptable to expect 12.7 million people to live in perpetual fear that someone with a weapon designed for war might commit mass violence at any moment?” said Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering. “Is access to combat weapons more important than living freely in our communities?” 

Highland Park has a municipal ordinance in place banning “assault weapons,” but the July 4 shooter is a resident of neighboring Highwood. 

Lauren Barrett, a Highland Park resident, explained in graphic detail what it was like to be shot twice in the back while at the parade. 

“Sitting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, which has always been a place of safety, I would’ve never imagined that the turbulent sound I heard and the hail of concrete fragments and shrapnel that I saw was actually a [string] of bullets from a Smith & Wesson M&P 15,” Barrett said.  

While Illinois lawmakers’ calls to ban “assault weapons” intensified in response to the Highland Park shooting, victims of gun violence in Chicago reminded the committee mass shootings and lost lives from gun violence is a daily problem in the city that doesn’t get the same attention.  

“The reaction and the result that has come from that reaction [to the Highland Park shooting] both from a local, state and federal perspective, it far surpasses what we’ve been feeling and what has happened to us and to our children [in Chicago],” said Jaquie Algee, a South Side resident who lost her son to gun violence, noting many Chicagoans were shot during the Fourth of July weekend as well, but those received little attention.  

An Oct. 31 mass shooting in East Garfield Park also received a lot of attention during Monday’s meeting. Pastor Cornelius Parks explained 10 family members holding a vigil to remember another family member who died from cancer were shot. One of the victims, Conttina Paterson, also spoke at Monday’s hearing and walked with the help of crutches as she continues recovering from a gunshot wound.  

“Let truth be told: us in the East Garfield communities because of this mass shooting having taken place, we have no type of resources that have come over to support those that have been victimized,” Parks said.  

Supporters of the legislation reiterated they want lawmakers to directly target guns with legislation.  

“I recognize that restricting access to assault weapons and large capacity magazines won’t stop all gun violence but banning weapons of war is one common sense step we can take and it’s worth it if we can just save one life,” Rotering said.  

Lawmakers and advocates also expressed dwindling patience for the lack of strong action in the wake of mass shootings.    

“If we’re honest with ourselves and we look at the history of this topic and the history of this country, we’ve never done enough,” Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) said, noting even incidents where politicians were victims of gun violence such as the 2011 shooting of former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 2017 shooting of U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) didn’t cause Congress to take significant action on guns.  

“To underscore how difficult this topic has been, in 1981, just months apart, both the President of the United States of America and the Pope were shot, so this is not the end of our work and this is not everything,” Buckner said, referring to the non-fatal shootings for President Ronald Regan and Pope John Paul II.  

Before Monday’s hearing, proponents of the bill led by Morgan and Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) spoke out in favor of the legislation calling its passage urgent. Morgan said he intends to move the bill as soon as possible. 

“We should all be ashamed that we haven’t taken action sooner… it shouldn’t take a mass shooting for us to have the political courage to do something about it,” Morgan told reporters before the hearing.  

With victims of shootings standing by lawmakers, Ford put the toll of gun violence into numbers explaining about 2,000 people are shot in Chicago in a “good year” and guns are the leading cause of death among children and Black children are 14 times more likely to be shot and killed than white children. 

“We can all agree that if we had the power to prevent the death of an innocent baby, child, mother, brother, father or friend, we would use that power instantly,” Ford told reporters. “We have that power now. We just need the political will.”  

Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-Batavia) noted Illinois led the nation in gun sales during the pandemic.  

“Make no mistake about it: above all, it is about the guns,” Hirschauer said. “It is about easy access to guns, proliferation of guns in our communities and an amoral gun industry that is unregulated and out of control.”  

The committee will meet again for another round of hearings on Thursday and Dec. 20 that will include input from advocates, experts and gun rights proponents. Lawmakers are scheduled to return to Springfield on Jan. 4 for the final five days of the 102nd General Assembly when the bill could be called for a final vote in the committee and pass through both chambers.