Rock Island Today

Rep. Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) objects to House Bill 1092 and has urged her Republican colleagues to vote against it.

She believes that the current Firearms Restraining Order Act is enough.

“I think that the system that we have in place now is working,” McCombie said. “I think to go forward is tearing down the Republicans and the advocates for gun rights by pushing this forward, expanding it without actually letting the first bill work. I strongly urge my (fellow) Republicans to vote no on this bill. It goes too far; it goes against previous agreements and I urge a no vote.”

Bill sponsor state Rep. Denyse Stoneback (D-Skokie) said other states including Maryland are implementing a similar version of the Firearms Restraining Order. She said that they have worked closely with the Illinois State Police and found out that there were only 59 petitions filed since the original bill was enacted while Maryland is now averaging approximately 75 petitions per month.

McCombie replied it is not a fair thing to compare filing these petitions. "To me, the bill that was put forth by Rep. Kathleen Willis (D-Northlake), it had Republican bipartisan support, Illinois State Rifle Association was a proponent of it and now you have zero Republicans. The ISRA is not going to support this; it just goes too far. I’m always interested when we compare things to other states because maybe the people of Illinois are better than the people in other states when it comes to these issues,” she said.

HB 1092 would modify the Firearms Restraining Order Act if the definition of a "family member" who could file such a petition would include "any former spouse (or) person with whom the respondent has or allegedly has a child in common," as Stoneback proposes. It is currently placed on postponed consideration.