EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) – With the signing of House Bill 5471 into law, it will ban the sale of assault weapons, high capacity magazines and rapid fire devices.
It makes Illinois the ninth state to outlaw the weapons with many county sheriffs across the state are against the ban. One of those Sheriffs is Derek Morgan in Wabash County.
“If you look at it, it sets out to essentially make criminals out of law abiding citizens with the magazine restrictions, round restrictions,” explained Sheriff Morgan. “If you actually look into it, it makes some of your hunting shotguns illegal which I would say 95 percent of the citizens in our county have probably owned one.”
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker says though some law enforcement are against the ban
they will have no choice in the long run.
“There are of course people who are trying to politically grandstand and who want to make a name for themselves by claiming they will not comply, but the reality is the state police is responsible for enforcement as is all enforcement across the state and they will in fact do their job or they won’t be in their job,” Gov. Pritzker said.
Those who currently own items that will now be banned with have to report the model, caliber and serial number of their weapons that they own by October 1st.
Sheriff Morgan says he’s had residents from his county constantly reach out on where he stands
and after speaking with other colleagues around the state many share his sentiments as well.
“I was on a call this morning with 12 to 15 other sheriffs just trying to figure what everyone else was thinking and feeling. it’s pretty, it’s pretty well similar throughout the state.”
Sheriff Morgan believes most counties in the state will oppose the ban as well. Wayne, Edwards and White County all say they oppose the assault ban.
