|
On the one-year anniversary of the Independence Day parade
shooting in Highland Park Tuesday, Pritzker said there needs to
be more gun control.
“We’ve banned assault weapons. We’ve banned high capacity
magazines. We’ve banned switches that turn regular guns into
automatic weapons and here in Illinois those are things that
will keep people safe and alive, but we need a national ban,”
Pritzker said.
The White House Wednesday highlighted Illinois’ law as what the
Biden administration would like to see nationwide.
Todd Vandermyde, who’s consulting plaintiffs in the challenge to
Illinois’ ban, said more gun control won’t make the streets
safer. He said the governor’s other policies are “an abject
failure.”
“They don’t go after the criminals. ‘Oh no, we’re going to give
them electric home monitoring. Oh no, we’re going to let them go
out for 48 hours. Oh no, we’re not going to require cash bail,’”
Vandermyde told The Center Square, referring to the state's
latest changes to the criminal justice system.
Just in Chicago, violent crime has risen 86% over the past two
years, and 56% over the past four.
To the consolidated lawsuit challenging the state’s gun and
magazine ban, Pritzker said he’s “heartened” after last week’s
hearing in the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The
governor cited some of the judges’ questions focused on whether
the issue is a “popularity contest which guns we’re going to
allow.”
“Because the people who were advocating for semi-automatic
weapons were saying ‘well gee, everybodies got one now, so you
can’t ban them.’ Well that’s ridiculous,” Pritzker said. “If
everyone had a missile launcher, we shouldn’t ban missile
launchers?”
Vandermyde said the case isn’t about missile launchers.
“They just keep jumping to the absurd that if you allow rifles,
shotguns and pistols then you have to allow all this other
stuff. And nobody is arguing [that], that’s not even before the
court in any way,” Vandermyde said.
If the law is upheld, Illinoisans who own certain semi-automatic
firearms obtained before the ban will have to register them with
state police by Jan. 1, or face criminal penalties.
|
|
