Assault Weapons Ban, Gun Buyer Social Media Search Proposed

SPRINGFIELD, IL — Ahead of the first full week of the 101st General Assembly with control of the governor's mansion and supermajorities in both houses, Illinois Democratic lawmakers have already introduced several new gun laws.

A Senate bill would ban firearms it defines as "assault weapons," while two pieces of House legislation would amend the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. One would require applicants for gun licenses to provide a list of their public social media accounts that state police must review and another would allow state police to deny, revoke or seize FOID cards of those convicted of misdemeanor stalking in other states.

The three bills filed Wednesday and Thursday by north suburban state lawmakers follow Gov. JB Pritzker's signing of new statewide regulations on gun dealers as one of his first acts in office. At a press conference on Chicago's North Austin neighborhood last week, Pritzker said it was "time to ban weapons of war."

Deerfield Democrat Sen. Julie Morrison introduced Senate Bill 107 to ban various types of specified semi-automatic firearms. The text of the bill closely mirrors other such bans passed by North Shore municipalities and by Cook County. Highland Park's ban was allowed to stand by the U.S. Supreme Court, while Cook County ban's, though upheld in federal court, has never actually been enforced and enforcement of Deerfield's has been put on hold pending court challenge in Lake County Court.

But those local ordinance bans merely assess fines. Morrison's proposal would amend the state's criminal code and make the first offense of buying, selling or possessing the weapons a class 3 felony, with a possible penalty ranging from probation to five years in the state penitentiary.

In an August 2018 op-ed, then-candidate Pritzker called for a ban on "assault weapons, bump stocks, and high-capacity magazines." The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment about the proposed legislation Friday.

Last year, Morrison proposed giving local governments the ability to write their own firearm bans, introducing Senate Bill 2314. The bill passed the Judiciary Committee in April but it was unable to garner enough support for Democratic leaders to call it for a vote. She said her proposal for a statewide ban could assuage some of the concerns of her fellow senators.

“For too long, our federal government has failed to act on a number of important gun safety measures. While a renewal of the federal assault weapons ban would be the most effective solution, we can no longer delay action," Morrison said in a statement Friday. "In speaking with many of my colleagues as well as gun owners, a statewide assault weapons ban would create needed clarity instead of a patchwork of regulations from municipality to municipality.”

Under the proposed bill, firearm owners could keep qualifying guns they already own if they are registered with Illinois State Police within 300 days of the bill's passage. Only retired law enforcement who acquire the weapons on the job would be able to keep such guns after that period, although they may still be transferred to an heir. Non-residents travelling through the state would need to pass through Illinois within 24 hours to avoid falling afoul of the law.

Two Senate Democrats from Chicago, Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Antonio Muñoz and Majority Whip Sen. Jacqueline Collins, have been added as chief co-sponsors of Morrison's bill.

Several lawmakers from southern Illinois, including Murphysboro Republican Rep. Terri Bryant, have vowed to fight Morrison's ban on AR-15s and other rifles, shotguns and pistols meeting its definition of "assault weapons," such as any semi-automatic pistol with a magazine that can hold more than 10 rounds.

"I understand people don't want to have school shootings and church shootings and whatnot," Bryant told WSIL. "But bills like this [are] attacking legal firearms owners because of bad actors."

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was in place from 1994 and 2004, but its effect on rates of gun violence remains the subject of debate. A Department of Justice-funded study found "no evidence that it had reduced overall gun crime or made shootings less lethal." However, a 2016 review of shootings where six or more people died at a time indicated an increase in the rate of mass shootings since the expiration of the federal ban.

In the House, freshman 59th District Rep. Dan Didech, of Buffalo Grove, filed a pair of modifications to gun licensing rules Thursday, House Bill 887 and 888. He said one of the amendments would simply close a loophole created by differences in criminal codes between states, while the other would be the first of its kind to be implemented in any state.

The first of the two changes would add new grounds to keep FOID cards out of the hands of people convicted of out-of-state misdemeanor stalking involving a firearm in the past five years. Under current state law, stalking is a felony offense and a convicted stalked cannot legally possess a gun. But some other states have misdemeanor stalking laws, so people convicted there would be be qualified to have a firearm in Illinois. Didech's bill adds stalking to the list of other misdemeanors that can be disqualifying if a gun "was used or possessed," including assault, aggravated assault, battery and violation of an order of protection.

"People who have stalking convictions are disproportionately likely to continue to commit violent crimes, especially against women," Didech said. "So I think making sure to close that loophole so people who do have misdemeanor stalking convictions in other states can't move to Illinois to purchase a firearm." Domestic battery is the only misdemeanor offense where a conviction is grounds for state police to prevent someone from having a gun owner's license, even if a gun was not used in the crime.

Didech's other proposal requires applications for FOID cards to provide state police with a list of "every social media account." State police would then be tasked with performing a search of any public information on the cardholder's social media accounts whenever a firearm is purchased. Didech said such a search could have potentially preventing many instances of self harm and several high-profile mass shootings.

"What we've found is that there are a lot of clues on social media, oftentimes before these violent acts occur," Didech said. "Making sure that the Illinois State Police has the resources to make sure that, one, deadly weapons aren't getting into the hands of dangerous people and, two, if somebody is having suicidal thoughts, making sure we do a check on them before they're able to get a firearm. I think that's something that's in the interests of the public safety."

Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said his group planned to "vigorously" oppose Morrison's bill. Pearson said Didech's stalking proposal required closer examination and his social media bill would potentially run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.

"Those people haven't done anything except exercise their right to free speech," he said. "If we're going to start judging people on everything they've ever said – forever – we're going the wrong way on this one."