SR0402 93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0402 LRB093 18278 RLC 43981 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Assault weapons are military-style guns designed and manufactured for the sole purpose of killing the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time possible; and

WHEREAS, Military-style assault weapons are the guns of choice for criminals, enabling them to commit some of America's deadliest crimes, including the 1989 Stockton, California schoolyard shooting, the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School, and the 2002 DC-area sniper attacks; and

WHEREAS, Military-style assault weapons threaten the safety of America's law enforcement officers, having been used to kill one in five officers slain in the line of duty between 1998 and 2001, according to FBI statistics; and

WHEREAS, International terrorist organizations urge their recruits to exploit America's lax gun laws and arm themselves with military-style assault weapons; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress in 1994, recognizing the grave threat to public safety posed by the continued availability to civilians of military-style assault weapons, banned the manufacture and sale of specific models of assault weapons; and

WHEREAS, Since 1994 many gun manufacturers have ignored the spirit of the law by manufacturing "copycat" guns nearly identical to those banned but for minor cosmetic changes; and

WHEREAS, The federal ban on military-style assault weapons, which was enacted on September 13, 1994, contained a sunset provision providing for the automatic repeal of the ban ten years following that date, or September 13, 2004; and

WHEREAS, As a result of the 1994 assault weapons ban, domestic manufacturers are prohibited from manufacturing or selling new high capacity magazines (except for a limited number of magazines for police, military, and nuclear plant protection use); and

WHEREAS, The 1994 high capacity magazine ban did not apply to foreign magazines, and between September of 1994 and December of 2000, 47.3 million large magazines were approved for importation for civilian use, from 50 different countries; and

WHEREAS, The federal ban does not affect firearms designed for hunting or other legitimate sporting uses; and

WHEREAS, The federal courts and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft have declared the federal assault weapons ban to be constitutional and in no way an infringement on the Second Amendment; and

WHEREAS, Military-style assault weapons should be completely and permanently eliminated from our streets and our communities; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that the Senate urges the United States Congress and the President of the United States to renew and strengthen the federal ban on military-style assault weapons, closing the loopholes that have allowed gun manufacturers to continue to design, manufacture, market and sell to civilians military-style assault weapons; and be it further

RESOLVED, That assault weapon ban reauthorization contain a large capacity ammunition magazine import ban consistent with the domestic ban on large capacity ammunition magazines.