Mayfield Celebrates Protect Illinois Communities Act

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, passed legislation banning assault-style weapons, high-capacity magazines, and rapid-fire firearm modifications statewide Thursday, shortly after joining activists and advocates from across the state who had gathered to encourage lawmakers to pass the bill.

“There is absolutely no reason why anyone, other than some police officers or members of the Armed Forces, should have access to these weapons of war,” Mayfield said, after the bill had passed. “Our communities called on us to act to protect them from the terror of gun violence and mass shootings that continue to threaten them, and we, therefore, had a moral duty to take this step, so that children and their families in our great state are now no longer forced to live with the fear that today or tomorrow or next week they may go off to school or work or to the supermarket—and never return.”

Mayfield passed the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which addresses longstanding goals of the gun safety movement, but gained added momentum after the events of July 4, 2022, when a disturbed individual opened fire on Independence Day paradegoers in Highland Park, IL, firing 83 rounds from a military-style assault rifle, killing seven people and wounding 48.

Her vote will ban new sales of assault rifles in Illinois, ban the sale of ammunition clips containing more than 12 bullets, and ban modifications that make semi-automatic weapons operate like fully automatic machine guns. Additionally, the bill establishes an Illinois State Police anti-trafficking unit to combat the flood of illegal guns from out of state. 

“These weapons are meant for battlefields, not for neighborhoods,” Mayfield said. “And yet, in neighborhoods across our state, we have continued to see the awful human toll caused by weapons like the ones covered by this bill. That’s why we did what we did tonight—to stop the carnage and to protect life and peace and justice. We did it to make everyone in Illinois safer.”

Mayfield is reachable at 217-558-1012 or 60thdistrict@gmail.com.