Illinois lawmakers are working to channel the outrage over recent gun deaths to pass more restrictions on firearms and accessories.
Citing the recent school shooting in Florida and the recently slain Chicago Police Cmdr. Paul Bauer, lawmakers made their case to pass laws that would create a number of new restrictions on owners and sellers of guns.
Named after Bauer, who was shot Feb. 13, state Rep. Dan Burke’s bill would limit magazine capacity to ten rounds and make selling body armor illegal in most circumstances.
Burke, a Chicago Democrat and former policeman, said owners of the newly-illegal magazines would have 90 days to give them up.
“These extended magazines are not appropriate in our society,” he said.
Some of the most common handguns on sale today come standard with magazines that carry more than 10 rounds. The Glock 19, for instance, was one of the most popular guns sold in 2016. The standard model comes with a 15-round magazine.
“This bill is a confiscation bill,” said Todd Vandermyde with the Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois. “We have 2.2 million [firearms owner identification] card holders in the state. If every single one of them has one magazine, that’s two million magazines plus to be turned in.”
Another bill, presented in committee by state Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, would allow for people to report people they consider a threat to others to the Illinois State Police.
“The system definitely failed,” she said, referring to the ignored reports that the shooter in Parkland, Florida was dangerous. “I don’t want Illinois to be one of those failures.”
Lawmakers questioned her bill, saying it was too broad and would allow for gun owners to be targeted and have their gun rights taken away. Rep. Barb Wheeler, R-Crystal Lake, said she supported some parts of Willis’ legislation, but the bill was too far reaching.
Wheeler’s main concern was that the bill allows Illinois State Police to show up at a gunowner’s house and order that person to report to a mental health facility for evaluation — at the gunowner’s expense — all based on an anonymous tip, with no accountability for the person making it. She said the process could easily be abused and said this was “probably one of the scariest bills that I have ever seen.”
“The rest of this bill that you’re presenting today is probably one of the scariest bills that I have ever seen,” she told Willis.
Other bills would ban bump stocks, which were used in a recent mass shooting in Las Vegas, and ban the sale of AR-15-style rifles to anyone under 21.
The bills each got thousands of people signing as supporters and opponents.
Illinois has 64 laws regulating guns, more than all but five states, according to Boston University’s State Firearm Laws project.