By JOHN O'CONNOR
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — At an Illinois House committee hearing Thursday, researchers and community activists said having fewer firearms in communities will help stop bloodshed — from the persistent gun violence haunting Chicago to mass shootings like the one at a suburban July Fourth parade — but this must be followed by programs to change attitudes and give people alternatives.
Democrats who control the General Assembly are positioning a wide-ranging gun law for a vote as early as next month, during a lame-duck session. That follows Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s call last summer for a semi-automatic weapons ban, following the parade massacre that killed seven and injured 30 in Highland Park.
The House Judiciary-Criminal Law Committee is conducting hearings on the proposed legislation, which would ban semi-automatic weapons, restrict gun possession by those younger than 21 and toughen so-called “red flag” laws that allow removing guns from a dangerous person for up to a year instead of six months.
“The goal is to make sure we're keeping dangerous weapons from those who shouldn't have them,” said the measure's sponsor, Rep. Bob Morgan, a Democrat from the Chicago suburb of Deerfield who attended the Highland Park parade.
Critics told the committee the law would do little to curb violence, and would likely be unconstitutional.
Chicago resident Andrew Guadarrama recited a list of U.S. Supreme Court cases he said would prohibit implementation the proposed gun law.
“To disarm the people would not save lives. ... Criminals do not follow laws,” Guadarrama said.
The Protect Illinois Communities Act puts gun violence back at the top of lawmakers' agenda following the Highland Park shooting — as it did after a man killed five co-workers at an Aurora warehouse in 2019 and five students were fatally wounded and 17 injured at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb in 2008.
There are enough Democrats in both the House and Senate to approve the legislation without Republican assistance. But firearms restraints are always a tough sell for Democrats from central and southern Illinois, where hunters and sports shooters see guns far differently than their counterparts in urban areas like Chicago.