(The Center Square) – Illinois lawmakers may move quickly Thursday to ban certain guns in the state.
Senate Bill 2226 originally passed the Illinois Senate in April 2021. It dealt with amusement park rides. House Floor Amendment 2 filed Thursday replaces everything with a new bill to ban certain types of semi-automatic firearms and magazines, among other measures.
A hearing is set for 4 p.m. Thursday in the House Executive Committee. The committee hearing can be viewed at the House Audio/Video website. With less than an hour before the hearing, there are hundreds of witness slips filed in opposition with few proponent slips filed.
Among other things, the amendment provides a definition of “assault weapon” to include a list of dozens of semi-automatic pistols, shotguns and rifles. It also creates a registry for already possessed semi-automatic guns 300 days after the bill’s enactment. There’s up to Class 2 felony charges for violations.
The measure also defines a “large capacity ammunition feeding device” as a magazine that holds more than 12 rounds, and prohibits the sale or possession of such magazines. The previous proposal capped that at 10 rounds. Violations would be a petty offense with a $1,000 fine for the first offense and a Class 4 felony for subsequent offenses.
Exempt are law enforcement, retired and active, military and security officers on the job as well as sanctioned sports shooters and nonresidents traveling through the state.
Since the Senate measure passed that chamber, the House could amend it and send it back to the Senate for concurrence.
Lawmakers are scheduled back Friday. Lame-duck session ends Jan. 10.
