Lake County Gazette

Critics say Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart is advocating for some of the most restrictive gun control policies in the nation. 

Rinehart said he believes politicians can “address root causes before the bullets are in the air.” 

The problem is “too many guns, too many dangerous people getting guns and not addressing the root causes inside our communities and inside the human psychology that is causing the gun violence,” he told the Chicago Tribune. 

 Illinois already has the sixth most restrictive gun laws in the country coupled with above-average instances of gun violence. Many critics have pointed to the prevalence of the illegal gun market in Chicago and increasing criminality, including a sharp increase in gun crimes in the past few years, as a reason to not include more restrictions on law-abiding gun owners, of which very few gun crimes are generally tracked, according to governing.com.

Rinehart – a progressive state’s attorney and one of only two in the state to back the SAFE-T Act – is overseeing the shooting case of Robert Crimo III whom he is prosecuting for the Highland Park shooting in July where seven were killed and more than 48 wounded after a gunman opened fire. In that instance, the alleged gunman, Crimo, was issued a gun permit by the Illinois State Police despite having red flags on his record for mental illness and instances of violence, which many are calling a failure of the governor’s office. “Had the Pritzker administration done what they said they were going to do, which was to review and make sure laws already on the books were being implemented more effectively, the tragedy in Highland Park might never have occurred,” Sen. Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles) said in a statement, The Pantagraph reported.

Dan Eldridge, of the gun dealers’ association Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, is warning HB5855 would criminalize ordinary Illinoisans. He told The Center Square “[I]t’s somewhere between two and 10 million magazines, and it’s a massive impact. These are the standard magazines that come with a duty-sized pistol even, they’re the standard magazines that come with a rifle. These are not aftermarket extended capacity magazines.” Elridge added that “With an immediate effective date, mere possession of a – and I’m not going to use their words, I’m going to use accurate words – mere possession of a standard-capacity magazine is a crime. There’s no getting around that. So you’ve got Second Amendment issues. You’ve got Fourth Amendment issues. You’ve got Fourteenth Amendment issues. You can’t do this.”

State Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) – who was present at the Highland Park parade – sponsored HB5855. Morgan’s bill would make the possession of several many types of widespread firearms and accessories illegal. 

According to the bill's synopsis, the bill, “Makes it unlawful to manufacture, deliver, sell, or purchase or cause to be manufactured, delivered, sold, or purchased or cause to be possessed by another, an assault weapon, assault weapon attachment, .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge. Makes it unlawful for any person to knowingly possess an assault weapon, .50 caliber rifle, or .50 caliber cartridge 300 days after the effective date of the amendatory Act, except possession of weapons registered with the Illinois State Police in the time provided. Provides exemptions and penalties. Prohibits the manufacture, delivery, sale, purchase, or possession of large capacity ammunition feeding devices.”

The bill was referred for a hearing in the rules committee where it will likely see a debate in January. It has picked up over 20 Democratic co-sponsors since being filed.