Senate Democrats Killed Bump Stock Ban, Claims Rep. Scott Drury

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — State Rep. Scott Drury (D-Highwood) alleged that Senate Democrats, including his own state senator, effectively killed a ban on so-called bump stocks on the same day high school students walked out of school to protest gun violence last month. The outgoing 58th District representative took issue with the Senate's decision to amend a ban on the devices on March 14 that had already passed through the House and would otherwise have been sent to the governor's desk.

Instead, Sen. Kwame Raoul (D-Chicago) introduced an amendment including language introduced earlier by Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield) that adjusts the definition of "bump-fire stocks" and eliminates restrictions on new municipal assault weapons bans.

Drury claims his fellow Democrats placed a "poison pill" into the bill, dooming its chances of becoming law.

"It boggles my mind why Sen. Morrison and Sen. Raoul did this," Drury said. "There was no reason to amend it, in my mind." He was especially disappointed in Morrison, whose north suburban district has broad support for for stricter gun regulations, he said. The 29th Senate District runs approximately from Great Lakes Naval Station south to Highland Park and west to Arlington Heights.

"People are always wanting to take credit for being, in our district, pro-choice and fighting the NRA," Drury said. "But it's not OK just to say you're doing that, and then – on a major, major piece of legislation – to sell out the district."

The Illinois State Rifle Association also described the Senate Democrats' amendment as a "poison pill" to a bill that had "apparent broad bipartisan consensus" when it was just about banning bump stock-type devices.

Sen. Raoul did not respond to repeated requests for an interview, while Sen. Morrison's office declined a request for an interview and did not provide answers to a list of written questions.

Efforts to ban bump stocks – and other gun modifications that make it easier to fire bullets faster from semi-automatic weapons – began in Illinois last October, shortly after they were reportedly used in Las Vegas to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

In that incident, the killer used the devices on half of the 24 guns he brought into the the Mandalay Bay hotel, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. Over about 10 minutes, the man sent more than 1,000 rifle rounds into a crowd at a concert, killing 58 people and wounding more than 400. One witnesses compared the sound of the rapid firing to the roar of an engine.

The attachments, also called bump-fire stocks, increase the rate of fire of semi-automatic weapons by using the energy from the gun's recoil to activate the trigger repeatedly, allowing rifles to fire far more rapidly. Trigger cranks (sometimes also called "gat cranks" or "rotating trigger actuators") are related devices which are fired by spinning a handle around the trigger that fires multiple shots per rotation.

The devices have already been banned statewide in Massachusetts and New Jersey, where Republican governors signed the restrictions into law. According to the Associated Press, for months after the shooting in Las Vegas gun dealers could not keep up with the demand for the devices, which hardly anyone sought to buy beforehand.

Competing Bans

Illinois lawmakers introduced two bills restricting the devices within a month of the massacre. One proposal, limited to bump stocks and trigger cranks, was introduced by Rep. Barbara Wheeling (R-Crystal Lake).

“However, the horrific events in Las Vegas showed quite clearly the devastation that can be caused by a rifle attachment like a bump-fire stock in the hands of an ill person," Wheeler said, announcing the introduction of HB4120. "After speaking with firearm experts and the Illinois State Rifle Association, we all agreed that bump-fire stocks have no practical protection or sporting use and should be taken off the market.”

The Illinois State Rifle Association helped draft and promote the bill but it never got out of the House Rules Committee, which Wheeler called "insulting" at the time.

Meanwhile, Rep. Marty Moylan (D-Des Plaines) introduced a bill banning a wide array of trigger modifications. His bill also banned the purchase of various types of explosives commonly used for target shooting without a Firearms Owners Identification Card. Democratic leadership fast-tracked the bill and it made it to the floor in just 10 days.

But the House rejected his bill by a vote of 54-48, including "no" votes from nine of the 67 Democratic lawmakers in the chamber. Opponents of the bill expressed concern its language would criminalize a significant number of law-abiding Illinois gun owners and potentially make up to half of the guns in the state suddenly illegal. Moylan has not responded a request for comment.

Six months later, in the wake of a mass shooting at a Florida high school and amid renewed public pressure calling for tougher state gun laws, House Speaker Michael Madigan presented a package of new gun legislation.

On Feb. 28, the chamber passed a more limited version of Moylan's bump stock ban. At the same time, the House also passed bills mandating a waiting period and a minimum age to purchase assault-style weapons and sent a gun dealer licensing bill to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who vetoed it March 13. (Democrats have until late April to override the veto in the Senate and would need Republican votes to do so in the House.)

The same day Rauner vetoed the licensing bill, Raoul filed his "poison pill" amendment to Moylan's bump stock ban.

Competing Definitions

Definition from Rep. Moylan's bill (HB1467)

"Bump stock" means any device for a weapon that increases the rate of fire achievable with the weapon by using energy from the recoil of the weapon to generate a reciprocating action that facilitates repeated activation of the trigger of the weapon.
"Trigger crank" means any device to be attached to a weapon that repeatedly activates the trigger of the weapon through the use of a lever or other part that is turned in a circular motion.

Definition from Rep. Wheeler's 2017 (HB4120) bill and Sen. Morrison's 2018 bill (SB2317):

"Bump-fire stock" means a butt stock designed to be attached to a semi-automatic firearm and designed, made, or altered, and intended to increase the rate of fire achievable with the firearm to that of a fully automatic firearm by using the energy from the recoil of the firearm to generate reciprocating action that facilitates repeated activation of the trigger.
"Trigger crank" means any device that can be externally fitted to the trigger guard or stock of a firearm that actuates the firearm using a crank.

Richard Pearson, the executive director of the Illinois State Rifle Association, confirmed that advocates of gun owners favored the definition adopted in the Raoul's amended Senate bill. A more expansive definition banning more "trigger modification devices" could criminalize a broad swath of existing owners, he warned.

"It's a plain attack on firearm owners, that's all that definition is," Pearson said. "They don't know what they're talking about, is the problem. Maybe they don't want to know what they're talking about. That also may be a problem."

In a email to constituents critical of his Senate colleague, Drury described the later definition as the "NRA definition." He claimed it does not technically ban anything because it only bans bump stocks "intended to increase the rate of fire achievable with the firearm to that of a fully automatic firearm."

"It's those sort of games that really get people sick of government, because they're out there advocating and trying to make progress and they see these games being played and it just makes them think, 'What am I fighting for?'" Drury said. "What does this tell students all over the country and even students in Highland Park and Deerfield that were marching on the same day they passed this bill?"

On March 14, Raoul noted the bill incorporated language from firearm owner advocates.

"The definition of bump stock and trigger crank in this bill has been amended to take in recommendations from the Illinois State Rifle Association," Raoul said on the Senate floor.

However, a spokesperson for Raoul last month said the definition included in the amendment came from the Illinois State Police.

"ISP was not the originator of this definition," state police Lt. Matt Boerwinkle told Patch.

"Rep. Drury’s desperate mischaracterization gets to the heart of why he’s been ineffective during his time in Springfield," Raoul's representative told Capitol Fax at the time, just a week prior to the March 20 Democratic primary in which Raoul and Drury were both seeking the attorney general nomination.

Another of Raoul's opponents in that primary, Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering, suggested there was a political motivation behind the Senate amendment.

"Kwame Raoul should have waged this fight to save lives years ago, when he drafted a flawed Illinois's Concealed Carry Act," Rotering said. "Instead, he conveniently waited until days before an election to save his failing campaign."

Sen. Dale Righter (R-Matoon) called Democrats hypocritical for withholding several firearms-related bills with broad bipartisan support from ever reaching the floor.

"You choose instead to put language in, which is a poison pill, which leads the objective observer, more and more and more," Righter said, "to the conclusion that you don't really want bipartisan progress and compromise on these issues – You want the issue!"

In a statement Tuesday, Morrison said she has worked with Republicans and Democrats to "tackle these issues in as timely a manner as possible so this unique, bipartisan opportunity does not go to waste."

It did not explain why sending the amended bump stock ban back to the House including an alleged poison pill was more "timely" than sending it to the governor's desk. Morrison said previously she favors the "most restrictive" definition of bump stocks, but her staff declined to answer questions about what that would entail.

"Poison Pill" Of Preemption?

As for opening the door to further municipal bans on assault-style firearms, Morrison has introduced similar legislation in the past but her proposals never managed to get a vote.

In fact, one such bill (SB2314) remains stalled in the Judiciary Committee, where Raoul is the chair. Democratic Senate staff were unable to explain why or how the language allowing local bans was inserted into the bump stock ban.

Firearm owner advocacy groups strongly oppose reopening the window for individual cities and villages to pass their own restrictions on various semi-automatic weapons. They argue the state's preemption on local rifle regulations is an essential component of the state's 2013 law authorizing concealed carry permits.

Pearson, of the Illinois State Rifle Association, said more local regulations like the assault weapons bans currently in place within Morrison's district in Highland Park and Deerfield – would create a "patchwork of laws designed to entrap law-abiding gun owners."

There has been no indication of bipartisan support for such a change in the Illinois House, where Republican votes would be needed to override a potential veto.

Deerfield last week passed an amendment to its village ordinance banning residents from possessing what it has defined as assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

A village resident and two gun advocacy organizations, the ISRA and the Second Amendment Foundation, filed a lawsuit three days later alleging that the amendment violates the preemption on local assault weapons bans included in the 2013 Firearm Owners Identification Act.

The group Guns Save Lives also has promised to file a separate lawsuit against the village with the support of the National Rifle Association, which is currently seeking Deerfield gun owners affected by the ban to be potential plaintiffs.

Drury, who boasts his district has the most assault weapons bans of any in the state, will depart his House seat next year after coming in fifth place in his bid for the Democratic Party's nomination for attorney general. Highland Park Republican Cindy Masover faces Deerfield Democrat Bob Morgan in the November election to replace him as state rep in the 58th District.

Raoul, whose record on assault weapons Drury criticized extensively during the campaign, won the nomination and will face Republican Erika Harold in November in his bid to replace Lisa Madigan as the state's top lawyer.