'Pass The Ban' March Urges Senate To Pass Federal Assault Weapons Ban

HIGHLAND PARK, IL — Advocates for a reinstatement of a federal ban on assault weapons plan to gather in front of the U.S. Capitol this week in an effort to sway enough senators to send a bill to the president's desk.

The "Pass the Ban" march is organized by March Fourth, a nonprofit group founded by North Shore residents shortly after the July 4 Highland Park mass shooting.

Nine days after the the Independence Day parade massacre, the group organized a trip to Washington, D.C., where survivors and families of victims from the recent mass shootings in Highland Park and Uvalde, Texas, called on the U.S. House of Representatives to ban assault-style weapons.

On July 29, the House voted 217-213 in favor of the ban, with the support of a pair of Republican representatives and but five Democrats in the chamber.

The Senate version of the legislation, which so far has 38 sponsors — 37 Democrats and Vermont Independent Sen. Bernard Sanders — would need the support of at least 10 Republicans to secure a filibuster-proof majority.

Among those headed to to D.C. for this week's march is Highland Park native Dr. Emily Lieberman, a pediatrician at Lurie Children's Hospital who attended the July 4th parade with 13 members of her family.

Lieberman was separated from her husband and one of her two young daughters as the crowd fled gunfire, she recalled, spending more than two hours after the shooting crammed into a single-occupancy bathroom of a downtown business with 15 others.

"I was personally embarrassed that on July 4, as a physician, I didn't go back to help anyone, that was something that I was trying to grapple with," Lieberman said.

"You saw that there were these heroes, these amazing heroes who are physicians, and instead of running like I did, they ran toward the shooter and they helped people," she said. "I was not brave enough to do that. And I'm the first to be honest and admit that I was not brave enough to do that.

"I ran for my life. I wanted to protect my children, and I didn't do my duty to help other people," Lieberman continued. "And in grappling with that reality I realized I needed to use my voice as a doctor to make change and help make up for how I couldn't help that day."

Lieberman and her husband, who is also a doctor, are coordinating efforts within March Fourth to lobby the four U.S. Senators who are also medical doctors — John Barrasso of Wyoming, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Roger Marshall of Kansas. All four are Republicans. Three have agreed to meet with the assault weapons ban advocates.

"We decided to get doctors together to try to speak doctor-to-doctor with the four physician senators, saying, 'This is a public health crisis. You took an oath at one point in your life that you would help people — that you would ensure safety for people. Why are you allowing someone's hobby to be more important than a child's life?'" she said.

"How can we get them to see that this is a public health crisis and we need a public health solution," Lieberman said.

Organizers said Thursday's march would bring together people directly affected by at least five mass shootings that have taken place so far this year, as well as shootings dating back more than two decades to the Columbine, Colorado, high school shooting.

“The significance of this group is staggering,” March Fourth founder Kitty Brandtner said in a statement.

“We come from all corners of the country, representing more than a dozen mass shootings that have tragically become the background noise of America," said Brandtner, a Winnetka resident. "Enough is enough — the time has come for the Senate to finally listen to the majority of Americans who want an assault weapons ban. We demand that they pass it now.”

Brandtner encouraged supporters to share a video public service announcement March Fourth produced for the group by the marketing company Quality Meats Creative.

In the 90-second video, actors say they will not be taking part in the "Pass the Ban" march because they enjoy living in fear of gun violence — and because they "like that anyone can easily access weapons of destruction, weapons of war, designed to kill the greatest number of people in the least amount of time.”

House Republicans have described restrictions on assault weapon ownership as an infringement of Second Amendment rights.

And at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in July, Republican senators stated their unequivocal opposition to any federal ban on assault-style rifles, pistols or shotguns and magazines that hold more than 10 bullets.

The federal assault weapons ban was in place for 10 years ending in 2004 and never renewed. Seven states and the District of Columbia have laws banning assault weapons.

In Springfield, where Democrats hold a supermajority in both legislative chambers, as well as the governor's mansion, assault weapons bans have also not made it to the floor for a vote.

Backers of a statewide ban in Illinois say the proposal remains about 19 state senators and 13 state representatives short of the votes it would need to make it to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk.

While March Fourth's advocacy is focused on a federal assault weapons ban, Highland Park has had a municipal-level ban on assault weapons since 2013. Possession of such guns is a ticketable offense.

While the city's ban has been repeatedly upheld by federal judges, changes to the composition of the Supreme Court and its increasingly expansive interpretations of constitutional protections of individual rights of gun ownership have prompted a gun owner advocacy organization to file a federal suit against the city and four other jurisdictions in an effort to have restrictions on assault weapons tossed out by a federal court.

"It's a well-known fact that the majority of Americans do not believe that you need an assault weapon to protect your Second Amendment right. That's a well-known fact," Lieberman said.

"If all of us start speaking up more, as voting Americans — we put people into politics, they're there to serve us — if we can show our government that we do not believe that this is necessary, that you do not need assault weapons to have a right to a free speech, that in fact assault weapons are not promoting a free state, they are taking away our life, our liberty — quite literally — our freedoms," she said.

"My hope is that once enough people start speaking out in favor of an assault weapons ban, that the Supreme Court will be left with no option but to listen to what the general American public is asking for, which is a ban on this."

Related:
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