Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Passes in Win for Pritzker

(Bloomberg) -- Illinois lawmakers approved a bill that will ban the sale and manufacturing of certain assault weapons in the state, a win for Governor J.B. Pritzker as he starts his second term.

The state’s Democratic-controlled senate passed the legislation by a margin of 34-20 late Monday after deliberations that started on Sunday, with Pritzker pushing for the ban at his inauguration speech hours earlier. It now returns to the House of Representatives, which last week backed a version of the measure, for a final vote.

The bill comes in response to rising violence, including a mass shooting that killed seven people in the suburb of Highland Park on the Fourth of July. Pritzker faced mounting criticism from billionaire Ken Griffin during his first term, with the hedge fund founder relocating his Citadel firm to Miami from Chicago, partly due to crime.

“I’m done with the NRA having its way when it comes to mass shootings,” Pritzker, a Democrat, said in his inauguration remarks. “Why do we allow anyone to easily purchase a rapid-fire, high-capacity weapon that can kill dozens of unarmed people in under a minute?”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/illinois-assault-weapons-ban-passes-in-win-for-pritzker/ar-AA169lnw