President Joe Biden’s administration applauded Illinois’ decision to become the ninth state in the nation to outlaw the sale of assault weapons and urged other states to adopt similar measures.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday that Biden “commends the leadership” of the governor and lawmakers of Illinois. On Monday, the state Senate approved the ban, and the following day, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the legislation into law.
Biden “continued to advocate for greater action to keep our homes, schools and communities safe, including federal rules requiring background checks for all gun transactions and a prohibition on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines,” according to Jean-Pierre.
While everything is going on, the president is still pleading with other states to outlaw assault weapons at the state level, joining California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Delaware, Washington, DC, and now Illinois.
The sale of military-style firearms, which are made to fire quickly and frequently come with large-capacity magazines, has been the focus of the Biden administration’s efforts to reduce gun violence in the US.
“The fact we still allow semi-automatic firearms to be purchased is crazy. In November, Biden stated, “Just sick. I’m going to make an effort to ban assault weapons.
Assault-style weapons have been utilized in several high-profile mass shootings in recent years, including the past May’s elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, where the perpetrator used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle.
Under previous President Bill Clinton, a federal ban on assault-style firearms was enacted in 1994, but it was repealed in 2004. Since then, attempts to change the US legislature’s gun rules have continually failed.
The most important piece of gun safety legislation in decades was, however, signed into law by the Biden administration in June. It tightened up background checks, supported legislation to take away guns from dangerous individuals, and closed a loophole that permitted some persons accused of domestic abuse to own firearms.
Gun control supporters generally hailed the measure, but they also pointed out that it fell far short of more comprehensive changes.
The sale of various types of weapons, such as semiautomatic rifles and handguns with detachable magazines, that automatically load the subsequent round after a shot is prohibited by the new Illinois law. The law includes a long list of well-known US gun manufacturer brands.
Additionally prohibited are pistols that can contain more than 15 rounds and rifles that can hold more than 10. The law also forbids the sale of.50-caliber weapons and rapid-fire accessories. Residents who currently possess such weapons may keep them as long as they register them with state police.
Pritzker, a Democrat, said in a statement after he signed the legislation into law that “no Illinoisan, no matter their zip code, should have to go through life knowing their loved one could be the next in an ever-growing list of victims of mass shootings.”
He made mention of the mass shooting that occurred at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois, the previous year, in which a man brandishing a semiautomatic rifle quickly murdered seven people and injured dozens more.
Assault-weapon bans, according to pro-gun organizations, are against the Second Amendment’s guarantee of the “freedom to keep and bear weapons.”
The law impacts approximately 2.5 million gun owners in the state, according to Richard Pearson, executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, who also announced that his organization would file a lawsuit to overturn the restriction.
In a statement, the association stated, “Challenge accepted.”
The ban, according to Brady, a national organization that campaigns against gun violence, would save lives and marks a “huge success for Illinois.”
In the US in 2022, there were 648 mass shootings, which are defined as firearm occurrences involving four or more victims (excluding the perpetrator). 690 mass shootings were reported by the organization in 2021, and 610 in 2020.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations reported 61 “active shooter” occurrences in the US in 2021, the most on record and an increase of 52% from 2020.
An “active shooter” is someone who is actively engaged in shooting or attempting to kill others in a public setting in an apparently random manner, according to the department’s definition. In 2021, mass murders were involved in about one in every five “active shooter” occurrences.
