Rock Island Today

State Rep. Dan Swanson (R-Alpha) said HB5855, the Protect Illinois Communities Act, will have an immediate economic impact on Illinois’ arms manufacturers and hunting stores. 

The legislation would outlaw many types of commonly owned firearms and magazines. 

“On the legislation, you can see the list on page 30, one and a half pages of guns that fall in those categories,” Swanson said on a Facebook livestream discussing HB5855 with Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis). “I believe it's 20 pistols and 49 long guns that fit the weapons that would be considered banned or you would not be able to have in your possession. And one of the other scary things up here where I'm at, Patrick, is we have gun manufacturers in our back door. We've got Rock River Arms that employs many people, Springfield Armory employs a lot of people, and L.W. Schneider in Princeton.” 

Swanson underscored that “Springfield Armory and Rock River Arms are manufacturers of guns. LW Schneider is a manufacturer of parts for guns."  The latter, he said, "manufacture(s) parts of Springfield Armory or Rocky River arms or other arms dealers would use in their manufacturing of their guns.” 

“So we're talking north of 1,000 employees between those three businesses that would be affected," Swanson said. "And then take it that second- and third-order effect. If there's no guns in Illinois, what's going to happen to those mom-and-pop sports stores there on the street corner of Knoxville, Illinois, or Galesburg, Illinois, just as you have in your district to those sporting goods stores. So there may be money in selling fishing poles and lures, but I don't think it will put enough food on the table for what they're going to lose in revenue. And I understand, and you've been in these hearings, it's their belief that by denying us our guns, that'll save the world.” 

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Sterling) said the bill is unconstitutional. “While HB 5855 is likely far from in its final form, the constitutionality of the bill will certainly go before the courts,” she told Prairie State Wire. 

Guns Save Life founder John Boch spoke out against the legislation. He noted that HB 5855 would criminalize the owners of semi-automatic weapons and will harbor pro-gun sentiment. “I think this bill is going to be what’s gonna wake up the sleeping giants who say ‘hey, no, we’ve had enough. You never are satisfied by taking little pieces so we’re going to take a bigger chunk of the pie back this time,’” Boch told WMAY, according to Lake County Gazette. “(Bill co-sponsor Rep.) Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) is going to lose in court, and not only is he going to lose this, but I anticipate he’s going to get a whole lot of Illinois gun laws that are currently on the books struck, and that’s going to lead to a much safer society for all of us from criminals.”

Opponents of the bill pointed out the legislation will criminalize law-abiding Illinoisans. “I would say it’s somewhere between two and 10 million magazines, and it’s a massive impact,” Dan Eldridge, of gun dealers’ association Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois told The Center Square. “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.” Eldrige further argued 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.”