Democrats Line Up To Support Assault Weapon Ban, Ignore Killer Poverty

CHICAGO — In February, Democrats in the state House had no interest in using their legislative supermajority to even consider a bill introduced calling for a ban on assault weapons in Illinois.

State Rep. Maura Hirschauer (D-West Chicago) penned a bill calling for a ban on .50 caliber rifles, assault weapons and attachments, including high-capacity magazines. The bill didn't pick up a single co-sponsor.

The House's Judicial Criminal Committee, chaired by Chicago state Rep. Justin Slaughter, scheduled a hearing for Feb. 17. Seven people signed up to testify on behalf of the bill. Another 728 people requested to be witnesses opposing the proposal.

A day later, apparently because no action was taken, the bill was re-referred to the Rules Committee.

That's where legislation usually goes to die. It happens all the time in Illinois.

In 2013, then-House speaker Michael Madigan held two hearings on a possible assault weapon ban in the wake of a mass school shooting in Newton, Connecticut.

At the time, then-State Sen Kwame Raoul, now is Illinois attorney general, poo-pooed the focus on banning assault weapons.

"Listen, assault weapons ban is a sexy discussion, and it's sexy for politicians to latch onto,"
Raoul told the Chicago Tribune, noting that assault weapons are not usually the guns used in mass murders in cities from Chicago to East St. Louis. "It's an easy one to say, 'I am against assault weapons.'"

In the 2018 midterm election, the Democrats floated an assault weapon ban sponsored by Madigan — Illinois' most powerful politician. His effort made headlines and passed in the House, but it died in the state senate, which, then as now, held a Democratic majority.

In 2019, a Democratic state representative introduced a bill banning assault weapons that was re-referred to the Rules committee, where it died without a hearing in January 2021, according to public records.

Now, here we are again.

In the aftermath of the mass shooting in Highland Park on July 4th, dozens of state representatives, including Slaughter, have signed on as co-sponsors of the assault weapon ban that wasn't worth their attention five months earlier.

The wave of Democratic support triggered expected criticism from the Illinois State Rifle Association's executive director, who fired off a warning to loyalists to be prepared to protest the bill if it is resurrected during a special session before election day.

As a city dweller, it's easy for me to say I'm all for banning high-caliber rifles and extended magazines built for war. As far as I'm concerned, any ban on military-style weapons should extend to local police departments, as well. Cops aren't at war with citizens. Nobody needs AK-47s to keep the peace.

I realize that perspective might anger the type of gun aficionados who argue there is no such thing as an "assault" rifle and "guns don't kill people, people kill people," among other ridiculous rationales for resisting restrictions on guns.

But I agree with the gun nuts on one thing: The new-found legislative interest in banning "assault weapons" — or whatever you want to call the high-powered rifles that can swiftly shoot dozens of rounds into a crowd — is an act of political grandstanding during the midterm elections that doesn't address the majority of gun violence that plagues Illinois.

In Chicago, America's No. 1 city for mass shootings, assault weapons aren't the top killing tools of choice.

Between January 2019 and mid-June, at least four people have been shot and wounded around the same time in the same place in our town more than 124 times, twice as many of any other American city.

In 2021, police confiscated 12,088 guns. Almost 6 percent of them, 706 in all, were assault weapons, police spokesman Don Terry said.

According to the FBI, rifles – which includes assault weapons – were involved in 3% of gun murders.

In the unlikely event that Illinois lawmakers resurrect a bill to join the seven other states that ban assault weapons — California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York — our state leaders continue to ignore a leading cause of Chicago's shooting problem — extreme poverty — in neighborhoods forsaken by corporate America and neglected by government leaders.

Meanwhile, the two Black women who run Chicago and Cook County understand the connection between poverty and gun violence.

Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and Mayor Lori Lightfoot each have launched guaranteed income pilot programs that aim to help poor families by providing monthly stipends in hopes it might stabilize their home life and strengthen their communities.

Lightfoot has said the city is fighting violence that she has called an increase in "crimes of poverty."

On Thursday, Lightfoot announced the first-of-its-kind effort to rebuild city neighborhoods that have been destroyed by the racist, discriminatory, and predatory policies that have been embedded in every aspect of our segregated city's development for generations.

Meanwhile, Illinois' white, billionaire governor, with his eyes set on a White House run, has used the Highland Park massacre to focus on eliminating a tool of destruction rather than pushing to stabilize the lives of folks living on the edge in poor neighborhoods prone to violence.

Widening income inequality fuels an environment of anger and resentment that leads to violence and a higher likelihood of mass shootings.

And until Illinois leaders commit to dealing with the bloody effects of poverty, their fight for "common sense gun laws" — or whatever you call them — continues to miss a key ingredient.

Common sense.

Mark Konkol, recipient of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting, wrote and produced the Peabody Award-winning series "Time: The Kalief Browder Story." He was a producer, writer and narrator for the "Chicagoland" docuseries on CNN and a consulting producer on the Showtime documentary "16 Shots.

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