Kane County Reporter

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said even as the gun and magazine ban he's seeking to impose in Illinois remains mired in legal debate, he is throwing his support behind a push for a federal gun ban, according to a story in the Center Square.

“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.

During a recent White House gathering, administration officials pointed to the Illinois law as something President Joe Biden would like to see enacted across the country on a federal level.

Individuals opposed to the kind of legislation being pushed Pritzker point to the fact that despite gun control measures in Chicago violent crime has risen 86% over the last 24 months and 56% over the last four years.

If the law is upheld, residents across the state who own certain semi-automatic firearms obtained prior to the ban being enacted will have to register them with state police by Jan. 1, or face criminal penalties.

“They don’t go after the criminals," Todd Vandermyde, who’s consulting plaintiffs in the challenge to Illinois’ ban told The Center Square. "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."

Meanwhile, Pritzker recently indicated he is at least partly pleased with how the issue appears to be playing out in the courts, citing how some of the judges’ questions focused on whether the issue is a “popularity contest on which guns we’re going to allow.” 

He added, “Because the people who were advocating for semi-automatic weapons were saying ‘well gee, everybody's got one now, so you can’t ban them.’ Well that’s ridiculous. If everyone had a missile launcher, we shouldn’t ban missile launchers?”