Illinois became the ninth state in the country to have an assault weapons ban on the books Tuesday night after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law.
The measure will ban the sale and possession of various assault weapons, handguns, .50-caliber guns, as well as high-capacity magazines and so-called “switches,” which can turn semiautomatic weapons into machine guns.
“This assault weapons ban is a step in the right direction to improve safety for Illinois’ family and law enforcement, but there’s no magic fix, no single law that will end gun violence once and for all,” Pritzker said as he signed the legislation into law. “So we must keep fighting, voting, and protesting to ensure that future generations will only have to read about massacres.”
Earlier Tuesday, the Illinois House voted 68-to-41 to advance the ban to Pritzker’s desk.
Those who currently own guns singled out in the bill will have to register them with the State of Illinois.
Critics of the bill, including state Sen. Darren Bailey, have signaled their intention to challenge it in court.
“I, and millions of other gun owners in this state, will not comply,” Bailey said on the Senate floor Monday night. “I fully expect and anticipate that our court will uphold this action and protect the rights of everyone in this country and everyone in this state.”
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That same evening in the Senate chambers, lawmakers heard testimony from Ashby Beasley, a mother from Highland Park, who was present at the village’s Fourth of July parade in 2022 when a gunman shot and killed seven people.
“My son had become so paralyzed with fear that he laid on the ground, begging not to die,” she told the senators. “I got down with him and convinced him to keep going right as my husband pulled up in the car and whisked us safely home. Seven people were murdered that day in Highland Park by a man with a legally purchased assault weapon.”
Beasley then played a recording of a child shrieking away from gunfire.
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On Tuesday night, Pritzker said the bill was the result of compromise among lawmakers.
“This is one of, truly, the strongest and best assault weapons bans in the entire country, and so the result, I think, shows that there was a willingness to compromise — but also a determination to get something major done,” the governor said.
Even before Pritzker signed the Protect Illinois Communities Act into law, the Illinois chapter of the National Rifle Association said it would see Illinois Democratic leaders in court.
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