Doctors, Faith Leaders Urge Lawmakers To Pass Assault Weapon Ban

SPRINGFIELD, IL — As lawmakers returned to Springfield to begin a five-day lame duck session Wednesday — six months to the day after the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in Illinois history — groups of physicians and faith leaders issued open letters urging elected officials to pass a package of proposed gun control measures.

According to a letter signed by 353 doctors, gun violence is a public health crisis that requires immediate treatment.

"We refuse to be complacent in a country where guns are the leading cause of death among children and teens. No one deserves to live in constant fear that every school, church, grocery store, park, parade, or even hospital could become the scene of the next massacre," the doctors said. "We do not have to live like this."

Separately, 68 Illinois religious leaders signed on to a letter asking lawmakers not to "bend to the gun lobby" and warning that a failure to act "would be to sanction further unnecessary loss of life."

The Protect Illinois Communities Act, or House Bill 5855, was introduced last month by State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Highwood), who was set to march in the Highland Park 4th of July parade just as it was interrupted by a rooftop shooter.

The bill includes defines and bans assault weapons and large-capacity magazines. Those who already own firearms like the AR-15 would be required to register them for a fee. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has endorsed the plan and said he aims to sign it before the first anniversary of the massacre in Highland Park.

HB 5855 would also forbid anyone under 21 from being issued a firearm owners identification, or FOID, card unless they are enlisted in the armed services and lengthen firearm restraining orders, also known as "red flag" orders, from 6 to 12 months.

In their letter, the coalition of doctors said they have firsthand experience witnessing the trauma of gun violence.

"Assault weapons are too lethal to serve any purpose in our society other than to kill. High capacity magazines infinitely increase the deadliness not just of assault weapons, but of handguns too," the doctors said, according to a copy of the doctors' letter posted Politico Illinois. "With weapons of war too easily at their disposal, mass shooters are able to inflict unimaginable carnage in seconds. We need stronger laws to make sure that guns do not fall into the wrong hands, because when they do, the results are deadly."

The faith leaders' letter describes gun violence as a preventable moral crisis.

"We can live without assault weapons and high capacity magazines. They fire too rapidly and too violently to serve a purpose other than to injure or kill. While assault weapons alone pose an obvious threat to our communities, high capacity magazines can quickly turn handguns into assault style weapons as well," they said in their letter, posted online by Capitol Fax. "We respect the rights of law-abiding responsible gun owners, but these kinds of weapons don’t belong in Illinois. When guns fall into the wrong hands they don’t just end a life; they destroy the fiber of an entire community."

Morgan introduced the bill during the final day of the December veto session, when passing legislation with an immediate effective date requires a three-fifths majority. But that requirement is waved after the first of the year, so only 60 votes are needed for House package

As of midday Wednesday, 35 state representatives, all Democrats, had signed on to Morgan's bill as co-sponsors. It will still need to win approval in the state Senate, where similar measures have stalled in the past.

Democrats have supermajorities in both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly, which rewrote the state's gun laws in 2013, but they have never called a floor vote on the issue of an assault weapons ban and it remains to be seen if it will called for a vote this time.

Gun owner advocacy groups have opposed the bill and pledged to fight it in court if it passes. The National Rifle Association, Guns Save Life and the Illinois State Rifle Association have called for their members to lobby lawmakers to vote against the bill.

Rallies in support of the bill are planned for Thursday in Springfield. This year's lame duck session lasts until new lawmakers are sworn in on Jan. 11.